Jun 26, 2008 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Bucks Co. Teacher Found Guilty Of Making Threats
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (CBS 3) ―
Jurors have found a former Bucks County elementary school teacher guilty of making a series of terrorizing threats.
Susan Romanyszyn, 46, a former teacher at Longstreth Elementary School in Warminster, was found guilty of 11 of 18 counts, which included making terroristic threats.
"She has been now found guilty today of terrorizing students, terrorizing a school community, if she wants to do this, let her be a teacher for the Taliban," Assistant District Attorney Gary Gambardella said.
Over a nine-day period last October, authorities said Romanyszyn left the school in a state of fear after leaving over a dozen threatening notes, planting a fake bomb consisting of water bottle screws and a white substance and leaving nails in the parking lot.
Along school walls, authorities found messages saying, "Die" and "I will kill."
Investigators received a break in the case when a fingerprint on one of the threatening notes matched Romanyszyn's.
Romanyszyn, who is also fighting breast cancer, said she must have accidentally touched the note as she took the stand in her defense on Wednesday.
The district attorney's office said the evidence against the former fourth grade teacher was clear.
"We have videotape evidence showing her going into classrooms, library where she says she was never in. We have physical evidence in the way of notes with her fingerprints on them," Gambardella said.
Police believe Romanyszyn, who taught the school for three years, made the threats after being passed over for a fifth grade teaching position.
"She was upset or disgruntled at not getting the classroom assignment that she wanted," Bucks County District Attorney Michelle Henry said shortly after Romanyszyn's arrest.
The sentencing is expected to be held sometime in the next 30 days.
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