Anaya Smith, a Florida woman accused of threatening to blow up her son’s high school unless cafeteria workers started giving him more food, said she was misidentified and doesn’t even know the student in question.
Smith was arrested Wednesday and charged with making a false bomb threat and disruption of a school.
Advertisement
Authorities claim Smith called Cocoa High School on Feb. 3 and left a voicemail threatening to “blow that mother [expletive] up” in protest of the amount of food her son was being given at lunch, according to Orlando station WKMG TV.
School staff members heard the message the next morning and contacted Cocoa police. Although the school was evacuated, no weapons or explosive devices were found, according to WKMG TV.
The person who left the threatening message did not leave their number, but the school’s caller ID listed Smith’s number, according to an arrest report. A resource officer later told investigators that Smith’s child had argued with a cafeteria worker on Feb. 3 because he wanted more food.
Police say Smith is that student’s legal guardian, but Smith denied the charges to Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL.
Advertisement
“I don’t even talk like that,” Smith said. “Anybody who knows me knows I don’t talk that way.”
She also said she’s never heard of the student they’re claiming is her son, and that the phone number connected to the threat isn’t hers.
Both WKMG and WOFL reported that the phone number listed in the police report is out of service.
“Simple fact checking could have eliminated all of this,” Andrea Johnson, Smith’s sister, told WOFL. “One arrest could ruin somebody’s life. Not her life. I will make sure.”
Advertisement
When reached for comment, the Cocoa Police Department referred HuffPost to the Florida State Attorney’s Office, which filed the charges against Smith. Department officials told WKMG they had no comment beyond their initial report. The Florida State Attorney’s Office declined to comment for this story.
Source: huffpost
