(a) No person shall cause the evacuation of any public place or otherwise cause serious public inconvenience or alarm by doing any of the following:
(1) Initiating or circulating a report or warning of an alleged or impending fire, explosion, crime or other catastrophe, knowing that such report or warning is false;
(2) Threatening to commit any offense of violence;
(3) Committing any offense with reckless disregard of the likelihood that its commission will cause serious public inconvenience or alarm.
(b) Paragraph (a)(1) hereof does not apply to any person conducting an authorized fire or emergency drill.
(c) As used in subsection (d) hereof:
(1) “Economic harm” means all direct, incidental and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of criminal conduct. “Economic harm” includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
A. All wages, salaries or other compensation lost as a result of the criminal conduct;
B. The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from working as a result of the criminal conduct;
C. The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct; and
D. The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct.
(2) “School” means any school operated by a board of education or any school for which the State Board of Education prescribes minimum standards under Ohio R.C. 3301.07, whether or not any instruction, extracurricular activities or training provided by the school is being conducted at the time a violation of this section is committed.
(d) Whoever violates this section is guilty of inducing panic, a misdemeanor of the first degree, and shall be subject to the penalty provided in Section 698.02, provided the violation does not result in physical harm to any person, and/or provided the violation does not result in economic harm of five hundred dollars ($500.00) or more, and/or provided the public place involved in a violation of paragraph (a)(1) hereof is not a school. The penalty shall be as provided in Section 698.02.
(ORC 2917.31)