Senior prank damages buses, HVAC at local high school; 12 students charged

DENVER, N.C. — Twelve high school students have been charged for a senior prank that involved putting meat and eggs in the school’s vents, authorities said. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office estimates the prank caused around $5,000 in damage.

Deputies responded to a call on Tuesday about vandalism at East Lincoln High School in Denver, according to a news release from the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

School officials reported that buses and some areas inside the school building were covered with a sticky substance and glitter. Some type of meat and eggs were found in the HVAC system on the roof of the school.

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Taylor Boswell graduated from East Lincoln in 2018. She told Channel 9 reporter Anthony Kustura she participated in a senior prank back then that was nothing like this one.

“We just did a cookout out in the parking lot,” Boswell said. “Nothing too bad.”

The school offered a reward to find the students responsible for the prank and even threatened to take some school activities away, like the senior breakfast on the football field.

Boswell said that would have been devastating for her sister, who is a senior at East Lincoln.

“I’m really proud of my alma mater, Boswell said. ”Just to see something like that happen... breaking into the school and then messing with the HVAC system and then vandalizing the buses, they definitely went too far.”

East Lincoln High School 2021 senior prank (Lincoln County Sheriff's Office)

Officials said school security video helped identify 12 students involved, and in a meeting with their parents and deputies, all 12 students admitted their involvement.

Warrants were issued for eight students who are 18 years old, and juvenile petitions were filed against four younger ones, according to the sheriff’s office. The students were charged with trespassing, breaking and entering, and injury to property.

Parent Shelley Lynch says they just want to move past this.

“They are all good kids, they made a stupid mistake. I think they went too far,” Lynch said. “They know that they did. And they’re going to bear the responsibility of that obviously.”

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