A Detroit woman has been sentenced for making two false bomb threats at a high school after her daughter wasn’t allowed to participate in a school play, authorities say.
Crystal Royster, 42, will serve 18 months of probation after spending the first 14 days in the Macomb County Jail with credit for 3 days served, according to a press release from the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.
Royster pleaded guilty to the felony charge of false report or threat of a bomb last November.
Prosecutors say that she called in two false bomb reports at Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores on March 12, 2025, after her daughter wasn’t allowed to participate in a school play.
The school’s policy dictated that the teen couldn’t take part because she was sick and went home early that day.
More than 700 people had to evacuate the building after Royster made the threats. Local law enforcement cleared the school, searched the premises, but didn’t locate any explosives.
Royster was also ordered to have no contact with the victims, notify the school before entering school grounds, and take an impulse control class. She was sentenced on Jan. 8.
“The defendant was sentenced today for making a false bomb report that resulted in a significant emergency response. While the court determined that probation was the appropriate outcome, her actions nonetheless caused disruption and concern within the community,” said prosecutor Peter J. Lucido.
Had Royster been convicted at trial, she could have faced five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine “for conveying or imparting false information willfully and maliciously or with reckless disregard for the safety of human life,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
