Two teenage boys are likely facing criminal charges after they ignited two electrical sockets at Plymouth North High School by dropping coins behind the prongs of phone chargers in a “prank” officials said has been spreading on social media.
“Our youth is exposed to a variety of influences in society. In Plymouth today, one of our high school students chose to mimic a prank demonstrated on a social media platform,” Plymouth Superintendent Gary Maestas said in a statement. “This act has ignited fires in other schools in Massachusetts and other states causing disruption of the school day and significant damages to schools. We are working with the Plymouth Police and Fire Departments to fully understand the scope of this issue and pursue charges to the fullest extent of the law.”
Firefighters responded to the school at about 12:15 p.m. Tuesday after a teacher found that two 14-year-old students dropped pennies between the prongs of their iPhone chargers and the outlets they were plugged into, causing them to ignite and blacken, according to Plymouth Fire Chief Edward Bradley.
Bradley said no one was injured and no significant damage was done to the school, but the students could have been electrocuted or started a fire.
“You could easily cause a fire doing this, depending on the age of the wires or what’s around the outlet, but they’re not thinking of that,” Bradley said. “We just don’t want to see anybody get hurt or get killed.”
Plymouth Police Chief Michael Botieri told the Herald that investigators were concluding their interviews Wednesday and would likely press charges against the students, potentially including counts of arson and malicious destruction of property.
Officials said the “prank” is the result of a viral trend on the social media app TikTok.
“In the video it’s funny and nobody gets hurt, but you don’t see any consequences,” Bradley said. “In this particular case it didn’t start a fire, but it blacked out and it fused the penny to the charger. They had to have electricians come in to take the outlets out and examine them to make sure there was no damage done.”
Plymouth firefighters responded to the school mere hours after the State Fire Marshal’s Office issued an advisory about the trend, which was sent out after two other incidents had been reported across the state.
On Friday, two students started fires at two outlets at Westford Academy, causing the entire school to evacuate, according to a spokeswoman for the State Fire Marshal’s Office. No one was hurt, but those students have been charged with the burning of a building, malicious destruction of property and disorderly conduct.
“It was a great disruption to the school day. The smoke caused the fire alarms to activate, there was definitely flames, there was soot on the wall and it is unknown how much damage was done to the actual electrical system,” said State Fire Marshal spokeswoman Jennifer Mieth.
The third incident occurred at a home in Holden, according to officials.
