Manassas Journal Messenger | Osbourn student sentenced for stink bomb
An Osbourn High School student was sentenced to community service and a fine in Prince William General District Court Thursday for a prank gone wrong.
Daniel Buckley, 18, of 10013 Willow Grove Trail, Manassas, entered a no contest plea to an amended charge of trespassing. General District Court Judge Wenda K. Travers granted a suspended imposition of sentence, meaning that if Buckley completes 100 hours of community service and pays his $250 fine within the allotted nine months, the charge will be dismissed. If he doesn’t, he will be convicted of trespassing.
Buckley was originally charged with a felony, unlawfully releasing a noxious substance in a public place. He was arrested for pouring a sulfur-based axle lubricant in several places within the school, Manassas police said in October.
Buckley is an Occoquan-Woodbridge-Lorton volunteer firefighter and was highly thought of among Osbourn teachers and administrators, something the prosecutors took into account when striking the plea agreement, Buckley’s attorney, William D. Pickett, said after the hearing.
“The bottom line is this was nothing but a senior prank that got way out of control,” Pickett said after the hearing.
Sixteen students and five staff members were treated in the school nurse’s office for minor reactions to the substance, which caused an evacuation of 2,023 students.
Staff members, city firefighters and a hazardous materials team searched the building for the source of the sulfur odor and discovered four separate places where the axle lubricant had been placed. Staff found a 4-ounce bottle of Kendall Limited Slip Axle additive in a trashcan. Slip Axle is a sulfur oxide with a strong odor and can cause allergic reactions.
Buckley was suspended from Osbourn, and after a hearing was transferred to an alternative high school, Pickett said.