Woman allegedly tried to halt graduation

MERIDEN, Conn. — Although a prosecutor and her public defender asked that Danielle Shea be released on a promise to appear in court, a judge set bail at $10,000 for the woman accused of phoning in bomb threats in an attempt to cancel graduation at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.

Judge Philip Scarpellino said he was deeply troubled that Shea, 22, reportedly twice phoned in threats on Sunday.

“Plus, I’m understanding that the whole year was a lie,” Scarpellino said after reviewing the Hamden police report that indicates Shea was not a student at Quinnipiac this spring, but accepted money from her mother to pay for tuition.

Shea is accused of phoning in the bomb threats to Quinnipiac’s public safety department to cancel graduation so that her family would not discover she was not graduating.

Shea remained in custody yesterday afternoon.

Shea, 22, of Quincy, was arrested in a cap and gown inside the TD Bank Sports Center, where school officials had moved the graduation for students of the College of Arts and Sciences after the initial bomb threat came in. Police were able to trace the two threatening calls to Shea’s cellphone.

Hamden police said the first callm in which the female voice said “there is a bomb in the library,” was made at 5:45 p.m., or about 15 minutes before graduation ceremonies for the College of Arts and Sciences were to begin.

While Hamden police and Quinnipiac police were searching the library, a second bomb threat was called in about 17 minutes later. The woman stated: “Several bombs are on campus. You haven’t cleared out graduation. That’s not a good idea.”

Police did not find any bombs in the library or anywhere else on campus.

After the second call, school officials decided to move the graduation to the arena. There were more than 5,000 people in the quad area waiting for the 388 students to get their degrees.

Police traced the calls to Shea’s phone and learned she was a former student at the university. Police did not say how they found her. She did not have any weapons or explosives.

Hamden police Capt. Ronald Smith said several of Shea’s relatives, including her mother, were at graduation.

Shea, who most recently was living in Hamden, did attend the school in 2012 and is listed as having made the dean’s list.

Shea has been charged with first-degree threatening and falsely reporting an incident.

Danielle Shea, 22, is accused of trying to keep her family from finding out she quit school.