Police officers nabbed seven Maryland high school students in connection with a senior prank that saw their high school flooded with about 72,000 ladybugs.
Last week, students arrived at Chopticon high school to see the insects covering the hallways, as part of the annual tradition of American high school seniors celebrating their graduation by causing mild destruction to their school with a class prank.
A staff member at the school, which is about 50 miles outside of Washington DC, told the Washington Post that the insects had to be vacuumed through the day, while a schoolteacher said that a few people “felt bad for the bugs”.
School resource officer Corporal Holton investigated the incident and found that five students had entered the school by force hours before classes began, the St Mary’s County sheriff’s office announced on Monday. Two others waited in the car while the other five, clad in masks and hooded sweatshirts, released the winged insects.
Four of the suspects are minors and were released to the custody of their parents after being charged with fourth-degree burglary, property destruction under $100 and disruption of school activities. The three other suspects are adults and will be charged under criminal summons. All seven students are male.
One of the students was reportedly barred from walking in the school’s graduation ceremony, leading to student protests at the school.
The sheriff’s office said that one of the suspects purchased the ladybugs on the internet. The insects can be purchased online or in hardware stores and nurseries, where they are sold as pest control.
Last year, 62 students in New Jersey were arrested after attempting a senior prank that involved urinating in school hallways, breaking furniture and taping hot dogs to lockers.
