Mother is relieved and frustrated after "destructive device" charges are dismissed against daughter

May 17, 2013
Florida high school student had been charged with felonies after science experiment caused a small explosion.

The April 22 arrest of 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot and the classification of her would-be science project as a "destructive device" has left her mother exhausted, frustrated and eager for a return to normality. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Marie Wilmot is relieved that the criminal case brought against her daughter has been dismissed, but she still doesn't know whether Kiera can return to Bartow High School in Polk County, Fla., in 2013-14. Kiera was arrested after police said she caused a small, firecracker-like explosion in a water bottle in which she'd mixed toilet bowl cleaner and pieces of aluminum foil. No one was injured, and no damage resulted. Kiera, an 11th grader who had never been in trouble before, said she was considering the concoction as a possible science project. This week, prosecutors dropped two felony charges that Kiera had been facing — possessing weapons on campus and discharging a "destructive device."

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