- Jackson County Sheriff's Office says it has identified a suspect in Florida who was calling in false threats to Jackson-area institutions, triggering police responses.
- Area schools and a doctor's office were targeted, as well as institutions in California and Arizona, says the Sheriff's Office.
- The suspect was impersonating a former student of Grass Lake Schools.
- WATCH THE VIDEO for Undersheriff Christopher Simpson's and Grass Lake Superintendent Nick Angel's remarks.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says it has cracked a case of "SWATTING" that triggered police responses to multiple Jackson County locations.
Grass Lake Superintendent Nick Angel says it started with an email: "…a potential bomb threat over on our school premises that named one of our former students as the initiator of the email."
Officials say it was one of many similar reports not just in Michigan, but around the country.
One of the suspect's targets: Grass Lake High School.
Luckily, that email comes on a Sunday — October 13. No students in school.
Nevertheless, Angel says the entire Grass Lake Schools campus was searched by state and local law enforcement.
The Sheriff's Office says four other school districts in our neighborhood received similar threats, as well as a doctor's office.
"We ended up searching several schools and taking emergency precautions because of the SWATTING calls," says Undersheriff Christopher Simpson.
Simpson says Detective Kelly Ebersole figured out these messages weren't coming from a former Grass Lake student, but from a teenager in Cape Coral, Florida impersonating him.
"He tried to disguise himself, you know — pretty crafty in doing so. But through search warrants and an investigative team effort, she was able to locate him," said Simpson.
Florida is undertaking the prosecution, and the Sheriff's Office here will support that, says Simpson.
He adds that this kind of pranking is very costly…and law enforcement takes it very seriously:
"We will prosecute to the fullest if anybody is associated with, you know, these types of SWATTING calls."
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