Woman Called False Bomb Threat To Prosecutor's Office: Officials

FREEHOLD, NJ — A Monmouth County woman has been charged with calling in a false bomb threat that prompted the evacuation of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office on Friday, officials said Monday.

Shuanita Foskey, 48, of Long Branch, is charged with second-degree false public alarm, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said.

The threat was received by the swtichboard at the prosecutor’s office mid-afternoon on Friday Jan. 19, Gramiccioni said, alleging there was a bomb located in the building that would explode in a short period of time.

The building was evacuated and law enforcement, including bomb-sniffing K9s from the sheriff's offices in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties responded, along with K9s from the New Jersey Transit Police Department, the prosecutor's office said.

Foskey was identifies as a result of an investigation conducted by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and Long Branch Police, with assistance from the Ocean Township Police and the Aurora, Colorado police department, the prosecutor's office said.

"Over the past few years, Monmouth County first responders have carried a huge burden responding to these phony threats of bombs and active shooters," Gramiccioni said. "Law enforcement everywhere treats every one of these threats as a potentially serious threat to the safety and well-being of our citizens. These phony threats take an emotional toll on the people affected by the hoax, and create an undue burden on valuable assets.

"These false bomb threats are not a game or joke, but a crime that will be aggressively pursued by this office," he said.

Foskey, who is being held at the Monmouth County jail pending a detention hearing, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, as well as a civil penalty for the actual costs incurred by the law enforcement agencies responding to this incident, which will likely total in the tens of thousands of dollars, Gramiccioni said.

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