NIU student George Traynere, 22, was arrested Wednesday for setting off a smoke bomb near the eighth floor of Grant Towers South Residence Hall last semester.

Another student was treated Dec. 10 by paramedics for smoke inhalation after three floors of the B tower filled with smoke as a result of “a college prank.” University Police Detective Dave Wickstrom said the entire B tower evacuated after a store-bought bomb was thrown in the stairwell between the 8th and 9th floors.

Wickstrom said Traynere told police he did not think the bomb would cause as much smoke as it did. Wickstrom said the only reason Traynere gave for planting a bomb was that it was a prank. The bomb had at least one swastika scribled on it.

Wickstrom said a warning on the bomb reads it “can irritate breathing passages without respiratory protection,” and “that, indeed, is what happened the night of the incident,” he said.

Wickstrom said he arrested Traynere after “talking to a lot of people, banging on a lot of doors and conducting a lot of interviews.”

He said Traynere was also arrested for a separate charge of theft. Wickstrom said a stolen blue transferable parking permit was displayed in the windshield of Traynere’s car. The sticker was identified by checking the license and permit numbers.

The maximum penalty for Traynere’s charges of reckless conduct and theft are both one year in the county jail and a $1,000 fine, Assitant State’s Attorney Mike Herrmann said. These charges are both class A misdemeanors. “There is a possibility of (Traynere receiving) consecutive sentences but unlikely unless he has a criminal record,” Herrmann said.

Traynere’s first court date is Feb. 19 when he will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to the charge of reckless conduct and to the charge of theft. After that, he will hire an attorney or request a public defender, Herrmann said. Next, either a bench trial, jury trial or other appropriate measures will be decided.

Herrmann said setting off smoke bombs are not common cases for the State’s Attorney’s office.

NIU Assistant Judicial Officer Karen Duy said the office will review the case, as it does all university police cases, and will decide what, if any, judicial action to take.