Mailbox bomb
Teens arrested after prank turns serious
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

No one was injured when the bomb went off inside the principal's mailbox on Edgewood Drive.

A bomb concocted with toilet bowl cleaner exploded in a high school principal's mailbox, and the five teens who owned-up are facing felony charges.

The boys assembled "The Works" bomb in a small plastic bottle Friday afternoon and had reportedly planned to set it off in an undeveloped lot in the Burkehaven neighborhood.

When they walked past the Edgewood Drive home of Burke County High School Principal Dr. Wayne Hickman, they apparently got other ideas.

"One of the kids shook up the bottle and slung it in the mailbox," said Suzanne Sharkey, 38, the step-mother of one of the boys. "Once it had been shaken (which activates the chemical reaction), there was no way to stop it."

Her stepson Evan Sharkey, 14, and his friends Joshua Anderson, 14, James Oglesby, 14, Travis Micots, 14, and Nathan Chance, 15, were arrested on felony charges of criminal trespass and unlawful possession, manufacture and transport of destructive devices.

Contrary to information released by Augusta media, Mrs. Sharkey said the boys weren't taught to make the bomb in their science class.

She said one of the teens learned about it from an adult relative who'd made one for his science project when he was in high school.

That teen recreated the experiment while visiting the Sharkeys' Edgewood Drive home with his mother.

"We didn't think anything of it," Mrs. Sharkey said. "It was just an experiment."

A few days later, when Mrs. Sharkey and Evan were at Wal- Mart together, he asked if he could buy the household ingredients to try the science experiment on his own, and she agreed.

"It was toilet bowl cleaner and tin foil," she said. "I would never have bought something for them to make an actual bomb with."

Waynesboro Police Chief Karl E. Allen said Mrs. Sharkey could be charged with reckless conduct for supplying the boys with ingredients for the bomb.

"It will be up to the DA (District Attorney) to decide that," he said, adding that while Mrs. Sharkey knew the ingredients were explosive, she had no idea they'd end up in the principal's mailbox.

But they did, and around 5 p.m. that day, Dr. Hickman and his wife, Renee, an English teacher at the high school, came home to find their mailbox had been blown open at the seams.

A small fire had partially burned their mail, and caustic chemicals were dripping inside.

"They're really lucky their kids didn't get the mail that day," police investigator Claude Wade said in reference to the Hickmans' two small children.

The chemicals were so erosive, they actually ate through the carpet at police headquarters where the mailbox was taken as evidence, Investigator Wade said.

Other officers said the overpowering chemical stench forced them to move the mailbox to an outdoor storage unit.

Although the bomb was never carried onto school property, the students could face expulsion, based on the board of education's off-campus conduct policy.

According to that policy, a student may be suspended or expelled if he engages in off-campus conduct that endangers the health of faculty, staff or other students.

While school attorney James Hyder would not say whether the teens had been suspended, one parent said her son was suspended for 10 days and was awaiting a tribunal.

Meanwhile, local officers worry that other curious teens may try to make their own bombs - and could get seriously injured in the process.

"The explosion could easily take a hand off," Chief Investigator Gene Boseman said, adding that two years ago the Sonic drivethrough was damaged by a similar type bomb.

Video clips showing how to make "The Works" bomb are widely available on the Internet, and many of the videos show parents and children setting off the bombs together.

Only a handful of those videos allude to the dangers of the caustic mixture and the legal ramifications for getting caught with a bomb.

"It's not really a bomb, just a fun experiment," one blogger wrote. "It's real easy and cheap to make and can be lots of fun."

Chief Allen warns parents and teens that copycats could find themselves in deep trouble.

"It's illegal to make one," he said, "even if it's never set off."