14-year-old Trinity Catholic High School student charged with asking online, German friend to make bomb threat

OCALA, FL (352today.com) – The Ocala Police Department (OPD) arrested a 14-year-old student at Trinity Catholic High School (TCHS) on charges he had his online friend from Germany make a bomb threat to the school.

OPD says on August 25, detectives responded to a bomb threat at the school after a caller left a voicemail stating there was a bomb in a room at the school that would explode.

Detectives were able to trace the phone number to Germany. However, the specificity of the call made police believe a Trinity student had to be involved.

OPD began conducting an investigation with the assistance of the FBI.

Overseas investigation
The FBI traced the owner of the phone number in Germany and discovered it was a woman with a teenage son. German authorities interviewed the mother and son on Sept. 22. Police say during the interrogation, the son admitted to making the false bomb threat and being provoked to do so by a student who attended the school. But authorities say the German teen only knew the TCHS student by his online nickname and that the two communicated through an instant messaging app.

Back in the states
Through the information received, OPD detectives say they were able to identify the student at TCHS. They obtained the student’s phone and found text messages between the two including details trying to hide his involvement in the threat.

Detectives say the German teen told them that the TCHS student did not want to attend school that day and told him to call and make the threat.

OPD arrested the TCHS student and charged him with criminal solicitation of a threat to discharge a destructive device.

More details
OPD says authorities in Germany also launched an investigation against the other teen for disturbing the public’s peace by threatening to commit a criminal offense (section 126 of Germany’s criminal code).

OPD’s statement on the incident

“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.”