Today we depart (only slightly) from our stupid criminal format to offer what we would describe as a silly criminal looking at a stupid interpretation of the law. 
 
 Oh, Tyell Morton definitely did it. And he realizes he should be punished. But … 
 
 The 18-year-old Indiana high school senior had this really funny joke in mind. At least it was funny in his mind. Opinions can vary on that point. Seniors often do this sort of thing as their 12th year of formal education winds down. 
 
 So he acquired (through means as yet undisclosed) what you might call that traditional companion for the lonely hearted male, the blow-up doll. 
 
 He propped it up in a box inside the girls' bathroom, escaped unseen, and waited for the uproarious laughter to begin. 
 
 Only it didn't. 
 
 Because he wasn't unseen. School officials watching a surveillance video viewed it like this: a hooded figure wearing latex gloves enters a women's bathroom carrying a suspicious package and leaves empty-handed. So they contacted authorities. 
 
 Tyell claims it was an innocent senior prank. School officials and the law see it differently. 
 
 In spite of the fact that everyone seems to agree on the silly but harmless circumstances, he faces felony charges relating to laws on terrorism that could amount to eight years behind bars. 
 
 And in case you're thinking that maybe the young man is getting what he deserves, consider this … if Tyell had brought a gun to school he would be facing three years maximum. 
 
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 Photo: Pete Starman/Getty Images 
 
 
 
 ||||| POSTED: 6:33 pm EDT June 6, 2011 
 
 A Rushville High School senior faces a felony charge after bringing a blow-up doll to school as part of what he claims was a prank. 
 
 School officials called police May 31 after a package was found in a girls' bathroom. A deflated blow-up doll was later found inside the box. 
 
 Tyell Morton, 18, was arrested on a preliminary charge of felony criminal mischief after he admitted to bringing the doll to school. He said it was meant to be a senior prank. 
 
 "I'm facing eight years for a doll, a plastic doll," Morton said Monday. "I didn't put anybody's name on it, nothing. Now I'm a terrorist for a prank gone wrong. It's life-changing. It's traumatizing." 
 
 The family's attorney, Robert Turner, said the charge is excessive. 
 
 "It's interesting that had he gone to school with a gun, there would've been a lesser charge. It would've been a Class D felony with up to three years," he said. 
 
 Copyright 2011 by TheIndyChannel.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 
 
 Rush County Schools Superintendent John Williams said the situation is done and over with.
– An Indiana high school senior is facing up to eight years in prison for the egregious felony of… bringing a blowup doll to school. Tyell Morton planted the doll in the girl’s bathroom as a senior prank, but administrators didn’t think it was funny. All they saw on the security camera was a hooded figure take a package into the bathroom and leave without it. Soon, the Indiana State Police bomb squad had been called in to deal with the raunchy inflatable. Now Morton is facing felony charges related to terrorism laws, Discovery News reports. “I’m facing eight years for a doll, a plastic doll,” Morton told WRTV. “I didn’t put anybody’s name on it, nothing. Now I’m a terrorist for a prank gone wrong.” But the county prosecutor is unmoved. “In this post-Columbine world, that’s what you get when these kinds of things happen,” he said. For more, click here.