Watkins bomb hoax ties up resources, disrupts school

PATASKALA – Authorities are investigating a bomb threat reported Tuesday morning at Watkins Memorial High School that resulted in road closures, early dismissals and a call to a team of bomb-sniffing dogs.

The Licking County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the alleged threat, now regarded as a hoax, which was emailed to the school.

Deputies checked the building while firefighters/medics from the West Licking Joint Fire District were on standby at a nearby church on Watkins Road. Scanner traffic had indicated a person might have been taken into custody, but Lt. Brock Harmon said all deputies did was interview students in an effort to find the perpetrator.

"We have made no arrests," Harmon said Tuesday afternoon. "We're still in the process of gathering information to help us (find) the suspect who made this threat."

That process could include issuing subpoenas for IP addresses, Harmon said.

Harmon said the sheriff's office also called in bomb-sniffing dogs from the Columbus Division of Police and Ohio Fire Marshal's Office. The dogs ensured there were no bombs in the high school and in cars parked in the parking lot.

"A threat like this is very serious, and it does take a lot of resources, but we have to take every threat seriously," Harmon said.

To that end, Harmon said the person who emailed in the bomb threat could face serious legal repercussions outside of being charged with inducing panic, which can rise to a felony charge depending on the financial effect on the responding agencies.

"They could in fact be liable for all the costs involved in checking to make sure the school was safe," he said.

Superintendent Robert Jennell said the person, if a student, also would be subject to school discipline.

The sheriff's office was called to Watkins Memorial shortly after 10:45 a.m. Deputies quickly shut down Watkins Road north and south of the school, turning away parents and other people just north of U.S. 40 and south of Refugee Road.

According to the 911 call, which The Advocate obtained, high school Principal Ben Richards said he had received a threat via email from a student.

In the call, Richards can be heard reading the email, which he said claimed multiple bombs were located at various points around the school's campus.

The alleged student also reportedly claimed to be bullied in the email and said he wanted out of the school, according to what Richards read.

On the 911 call, Richards said he was planning to evacuate the building, which was done shortly after the call to authorities was made.

Southwest Licking Local School District confirmed the bomb threat on its website. Students were evacuated from the high school to the nearby soccer stadium. Jennell said the district informed parents of high school students and parents of students at the nearby middle school of the situation via email and a telephone call.

The district ultimately released all 1,200 students at the high school and all 900 students at the middle school.

"The (sheriff's office) basically said they'd have to sweep the building and make sure everything was safe for our kids, so they advised us to send (all) the kids home," Jennell said.

Buses picked up students at both schools at 12:30 p.m. Parents also were eventually allowed to pick up their students, although they had to pick up the high school students near the stadium.

Jennell lauded the sheriff's office and the other responding agencies for their quick response; he also praised the way both schools handled the situation.

"That's why we practice these drills," he said.