This is really quite unfair and I hope this poor 18 year old beats these extreme charges. The Indiana senior was taking his shot at a senior prank…involving a blow-up sex doll in the bathroom…and now is facing up to 8 years on felony criminal mischief. Hit the jump to find out why the charge is so serious for such a simple prank.
(AOL) – Playing with dolls could result in Tyell Morton spending the next eight years behind bars.
That’s where the 18-year-old Indiana high school senior could likely celebrate graduation after his attempt at a senior prank backfired, resulting in a bomb squad evacuation of Rushville High in Rushville last week.
Morton insists all he wanted do was put a blow-up doll in a girl’s bathroom as a joke. But when school officials saw surveillance video of a hooded figure wearing latex gloves entering a women’s bathroom carrying a suspicious package and leaving empty-handed, they tipped off authorities.
Investigators recovered the inflatable doll and arrested the teen, who has had no previous run-ins with the law. Morton has been charged with felony criminal mischief.
“It’s not right. It was a senior prank,” Morton told WTHR. “They’re blowing it out of proportion. I didn’t hurt anybody, I didn’t intend to embarrass anybody. What did I do wrong, you know?”
Robert Turner, Morton’s attorney, told 6News that the charges are overblown.
“It’s interesting that had he gone to school with a gun, there would’ve been a lesser charge. It would’ve been a Class D felony with up to three years,” he said.
But Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness told WTHR that the prank — which cost the school $8,000 — was no laughing matter.
“In this post-Columbine world, that’s what you get when these kinds of things happen,” he said.
How did this prank cost 8000.00???
Since when did it become illegal to 1. Wear a hoodie 2. Wear latex gloves and 3. Bring a blow-up doll to school ??? Only crime may have been entering the girls bathroom…white kids get away with this type of shit all the time.
Hey all!
I joined specifically because I saw this post on google. I am actually working on an effort to try and help get Tyell’s charges dropped or reduced. This makes NO sense, I have been in contact with his family and like most articles state, he’s not been in ANY trouble with the law, his grades are good and he doesn’t have behavior problems in school. It was a senior prank…what we do need are more voices. There is an official Free Tyell Morton website. It gives his story, how people can help (no not just $$ – we’re makin a lot of noise), a place to leave messages for him and his family. Anything anyone could do to give us a hand would be SO appreciated…I really believe that we can either talk about it or be about it.