Police provide update on J-M school bomb threats
WAYNESBURG – State police in Waynesburg provided an update Wednesday on bomb threats that were made in the Jefferson-Morgan School District six times this year, stating that one juvenile has been arrested and two others have confessed to being responsible for several of the threats.
The first two bomb threats were reported at the end of the 2013-14 school year, and the other four threats were reported in October and November.
The school district’s nearly 900 students were evacuated following each threat; the students were sent home early during the first few incidents, and during the last few incidents they were sent back to classes after police cleared the buildings.
State police Cpl. Andrew Zimmer said three bomb threats were reported at the high school and three were reported at the elementary school.
Zimmer said the threats were written on walls in both boys’ and girls’ bathrooms in several incidents, while in other incidents the threats were written on paper and were found on the floor, Zimmer said. No threats were ever called in to the schools, he added.
Zimmer said police have recently solved the three incidents at the elementary school after obtaining confessions from two different juveniles who are students in the school district, whose names have not been released.
Zimmer would not provide any additional information about the two juveniles and what action is being taken against them for their involvement in the threats because he said the investigation is still ongoing.
An arrest was made in an earlier incident this year, with charges filed against a juvenile who was a student at the high school. The district also reportedly took steps to remove that student from the district. Because the suspect is a juvenile, his name has not been released.
Zimmer would not specifically say if the three juveniles were responsible for all six of the threats and stressed again that the incidents were still under investigation.
State police have spoken at two recent school board meetings and have held assemblies with all of the students in the district to discuss the seriousness and dangers involved in making bomb threats, even if there is no bomb involved.