FBI: Threats made to schools not credible

The FBI is investigating a series of threats made last week to schools in southwest Ohio, including one at a Lakota Local Schools elementary, and has determined they were not credible, according to Todd Lindgren, public affairs specialist for the Cincinnati office.

“The FBI is investigating threats made late last week to schools in southwest Ohio. The threats are considered non-credible. However, the act of making such threats is a criminal offense that is taken very seriously. These incidents disrupt the classroom, impact the students and can re-direct public safety resources from genuine emergencies,” Lindgren said in a press release.

The West Chester Police Department reached out to the FBI to investigate a bomb threat called into Endeavor Elementary School in the Lakota Local School District on Friday because it is suspected the same culprit many have made threats to multiple schools, according to Michelle Berling, public information officer.

“They are handling it because it went across so many jurisdictions,” Berling said.

The number of threats received Friday morning by school districts around the state prompted Ohio Homeland Security to notify the state’s Department of Education on Friday, according to a spokesperson.

Kim Norris, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Education, said Homeland Security reached out on Friday to let the state know of the districts that were threatened.

That prompted the ODE to contact all of the state’s school districts. Multiple school districts received threats on Friday, both in the Dayton area and around the state.

School officials confirmed bomb threats were called into Meadowdale High School in Dayton and Bell Creek Intermediate School in Bellbrook at about the same time as the West Chester Twp. incident.

Berling said she did not know how many total threats occurred, but there were more than three.

Media outlets reported bomb threats were also received at Liberty-Benton elementary and middle school, North Royalton High School, Furry Elementary School and Licking Heights High School.

In West Chester Twp., police were called to Endeavor Elementary in the Lakota Local Schools for a reported bomb threat at 11:23 a.m., according to the police report obtained by the Journal-News. The building was evacuated of all students and staff.

Endeavor Elementary houses grades two through six. Bomb-sniffing police dogs cleared the building just before 2 p.m.

Berling said the person who answered the phone at Endeavor Elementary said it sounded like the caller’s voice may have been electronically altered.

Anyone with information about these incidents is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324)

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