Sheriff James A. McVicker announced today his office had investigated three separate incidents of threats made against schools in Bladen County, two through Social Media accounts and one word of mouth.
“Last Wednesday night, January 18th, we received information that several students from West Bladen High School had received Instagram messages to stay away from school because of an act of violence that would be committed the next morning,” said McVicker. “Once we received this information we worked with Dr. Robert Taylor and the faculty at West Bladen to insure the absolute safety off all students and staff. We had several officers at the school before it opened and we put every student through a metal detector.”
McVicker said investigators worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to track down the Instagram account and IP address it came from. All students who received the message were questioned and this investigation lead to the arrest of a juvenile on Friday, January 20th.
The 15 year-old was charged through a juvenile petition with Making a False Report Concerning Mass Violence on Educational Properties, a Class H Felony punishable by 10 years in prison if an adult.
Juvenile officers served the juvenile and placed him under electronic house arrest pending a hearing.
On Friday night, January 27th, the Sheriff’s Office once again received a report of a second threat against a school, this time Bladenboro Middle School. These threats were also threatening violence at a school. Investigators worked through the weekend and again uncovered the person responsible for the threat, another 15 year old juvenile. This second juvenile was charged with the same charges as the first juvenile and is also under electronic house arrest pending a court hearing.
Then on Tuesday, January 24th students at West Bladen showed a teacher a Snap Chat message that had gone out to other students threatening violence at the school. Investigators were again called and with the aid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation they were able to isolate the IP address for the original message and identify the user.
During the course of this investigation it was learned that three individuals were involved, one a 14 year-old juvenile and a 16 and 17 year old.
Deputies arrested Andrew Blake Hester, 17 of 317 LB Lennon Road Bladenboro, Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning they arrested Alexander Alamin Pone of 503 Old Hickory Lane, Elizabethtown. The third suspect, a 14 year old juvenile will be served with a Juvenile Petition later today.
Hester and Pone were charged as adults because of their age. Both were released to the custody of their parents pending a first appearance hearing in District Court in Elizabethtown. All three were charged with Making a False Report Concerning Mass Violence on Educational Properties, a Class H Felony punishable by 10 years in prison.
“We had additional officers at the school Monday morning as a precaution but had no further trouble and again no students or faculty were ever in danger” said McVicker. “These kids need to understand that technology is such we can find where a social media message came from,” he added. “I am also proud of the students who overheard or were told by the suspect that he intended to commit harm at school. By reporting this, we were able to get on it immediately and stop any potential threat. I encourage all students to tell an adult when they hear another child threatening violence at a school. We, as well as school officials take this type of action very seriously. We will not tolerate this type behavior.”
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