What felony class applies to perpetrating a hoax in a public building by concealing, placing, or displaying a device to cause others to believe it is a bomb?

• A. Class H felony
• B. Class D felony
• C. Class G felony
• D. Class B felony

Answer: (A)

A bomb-hoax act is treated as a high-risk offense because it creates a genuine danger to the public and to emergency responders. Concealing, placing, or displaying a device to make people believe there is a bomb can trigger evacuations, disrupt operations in a public building, and waste valuable resources, even if no actual device explodes. That level of risk and disruption is why many jurisdictions assign bomb-hoax offenses to a felony category that reflects serious harm but stops short of the most severe crimes. In this framework, the appropriate penalty level for this conduct is Class H, designed to deter these dangerous pranks and hold the offender accountable for the broad public safety impact. Other felony levels would either understate the risk (if they’re lower) or overstate it (if they’re higher) for this specific hoax, so Class H is the match.