TEENS CHARGED IN TWO SEPARATE BOMB THREAT HOAXES

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. --Four teens face charges this week for two separate hoax bomb threat incidents – one at Spruce Creek High School, Port Orange and the other at Galaxy Middle School, Deltona. At the high school, three students worked together Friday to write a note saying “I’m going to blow the school up” because they thought it would be funny. One of the students then turned the note in to a school administrator at the end of the day. On the opposite side of the county, a middle school student is accused of writing a note on Monday that included the phrase “on Friday the 13^th 2012 I will bomb this school.” The note was found in a girl’s bathroom. All four teens are discovering that making bomb threats is serious business, as the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office criminally charged the high school students Monday and will charge the middle school student Wednesday.

During sixth period gym class at Spruce Creek High School, a 14-year-old girl, a 15-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy participated in writing a note that stated a bomb would go off in a specific room Monday afternoon. They included the first name of a student one of the boys didn’t like as the signature at the end. The girl later told her seventh period teacher that she had found the note in the gym, and she was then directed to take it to the dean’s office. School administrators and the school resource deputy searched the specified room both Friday and Monday, but didn’t find anything. On Monday they used surveillance video recordings to try to identify who had left the note in the gym, but instead saw that the girl and two boys wrote it. The boys were identified and during interviews admitted to writing the note.

The investigation at Galaxy Middle School revealed that a 14-year-old girl was seen during second period by another student writing a note about bombing the school. The girl had also told the witness that she was sick of the school. Later, the girl went into a bathroom and tossed the note on the floor.

The teens were not arrested, but charging affidavits will be filed with the State Attorney’s Office. The high school girl is charged with making a false report to law enforcement, making a false report about planting a bomb and conspiracy to commit a crime. Both high school boys were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime. The middle school girl will be charged with threatening to place or discharge a destructive device.