POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A Winter Haven High School sophomore was arrested after making phone threats to two different schools, according to a news release.
Deputies said the 16-year-old boy was arrested on Monday after his school and Auburndale High School received phone calls regarding firearms on campus.
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According to the release, Auburndale High School received a call at 11:05 a.m. where male voice said that he was hearing voices in his head and that he was in a school restroom with an AK-47 and “you need to find me before I go into a classroom and take hostages.”
Then around 11:11 am, Winter Haven High School received a call from a male who said that he had a rifle and planned on “shooting-up the school at some point today.”
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Deputies said both calls discovered to be made from the same phone number, which was determined to belong to a Lake Alfred woman whose son attends Winter Haven High School.
When questioned at the home, the teen insinuated “that his stepfather made the calls,” but detectives determined the boy was the one who made the threats.
The teen was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Bartow where he faces charges of false report of weapon of mass destruction, use of 2-way communication device in commission of a felony, and providing false information to law enforcement during an investigation.
“Phone calls like this aren’t funny… they’re not pranks, nor jokes," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a release. “To the contrary, we are going to take each and every one of these type of calls seriously. And you can bet that anybody stupid enough to fool around like this is going to find out when we charge them with very serious criminal charges.”
News 6 is not naming or showing the teen’s face because of his age.