17-Year-Old River Ridge Student Arrested For Making Bomb Threat

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL -- Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a 17-year-old River Ridge High School student for writing a bomb threat on the stall door of a bathroom at the school on Wednesday, Aug. 22.

The student was charged with threatening to throw, place or discharge a destructive device and writing threats to kill or do bodily harm.

Pasco County Sheriff’s deputies began investigating after students reported that someone had written the phrase, "Bombs will be placed on campus tonight," on a stall door in the girls’ bathroom.

Security video footage showed the 17-year-old girl entering the bathroom around the tine the message was written.

Since school began Aug. 13, this is the fourth time a threatening message has been scrawled on a bathroom wall at the high school.

The New Port Richey school was placed on lock-down Aug. 16 and Aug. 20 after threats were found written on bathroom walls (see related story).

Sheriff Chris Nocco said the teen girl is only charged with the Aug. 22 threat but said his office is continuing its investigation.

He added that his office takes such threats very seriously.

"There's nothing that shows she could make a bomb ... but the moment you don’t take it that seriously is the moment something does happen," he said.

During a press conference Thursday, Aug. 23, Nocco also commented on reports that school parents were offering rewards leading to the arrest of the guilty students. He cautioned parents that any reward offer should go through Crime Stoppers, the official agency set up for that purpose.

"There is a process in place through Crime Stoppers. But I can tell you this absolutely shows the frustration of parents. They're so frustrated that somebody thinks it's a joke," he said. "If they send their kid to school and, God forbid, something happens, we get that."

He said students are equally frustrated and are more willing to come forward when they hear or see threats.

"The kids are frustrated, too. They’re not learning anything in a controlled lock-down," he said. "They recognize that their future is being dampened by this very small group of individuals."

Video via Pasco Sheriff

(For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)