A 14-year-old student was arrested by Ocala police on Wednesday in connection with a false bomb threat that occurred in late August at Trinity Catholic High School.
On August 25, an Ocala Police Department detective responded to Trinity Catholic High School (2600 SW 42nd Street in Ocala) in reference to a bomb threat. Upon arrival, the detective was informed that an unidentified male caller had left a voicemail stating that a bomb in a “specific room” was going to explode, according to OPD.
While listening to the voicemail, the school resource officer and an OPD officer noticed that the caller knew specific details of the school. OPD stated that this led officers to believe that a student at the school may have been responsible for the bomb threat.
According to Ocala police, the phone number that left the voicemail was traced back to Germany, and an OPD detective contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance with the investigation. The FBI discovered that the phone number belonged to a woman in Germany, and investigators learned that she had a teenage son.
Nearly a month after the incident, on September 22, German authorities interviewed the mother and son. OPD stated that the son admitted to making the false bomb threat call, and he claimed that he was “instigated” to do it by a student who attended Trinity Catholic High School.
Investigators learned from the above interview that the high school student went by a nickname, and the school resource officer was able to use this information to identify and locate the student. An OPD detective interviewed the student at Trinity Catholic High School, and the student admitted to having an “online friend from Germany,” according to Ocala police.
The detective viewed messages between the student and his German friend from the day of the bomb threat. OPD stated that these messages contained evidence of the student’s involvement, which he allegedly tried to hide.
The detective then contacted the friend in Germany who described the incident and confirmed that he had made the bomb threat. The friend further told the detective that the student “did not feel like going to school” on the day of the incident, and he was told by the student to “call the school and make a bomb threat,” according to OPD.
On Wednesday, October 4, the 14-year-old student was arrested for criminal solicitation of a threat to discharge a destructive device.
In a social media post, the Ocala Police Department released the following statement:
“We want to remind students and parents that we take threats to our schools very seriously and we will not hesitate to take action against those who seek to cause harm or create panic in our community. Threats like this, even as a joke, are never acceptable. We encourage parents to have conversations with their children about the importance of safety in our schools and to report any concerns or suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately.”