16-Year-Old in Polk County Accused of Phoning Threats to Two High Schools

POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A sophomore from Winter Haven High School was apprehended for making threats via phone to two different schools, as stated in a news release.

Deputies reported that the 16-year-old was taken into custody on Monday after phone calls about firearms on campus were made to his own school and Auburndale High School.

The release detailed that at 11:05 a.m., Auburndale High School was contacted by a male voice claiming to hear voices in his head and was in a school restroom with an AK-47, warning that he needed to be found before entering a classroom to take hostages.

Shortly after, at 11:11 a.m., Winter Haven High School received a call from a male asserting possession of a rifle and an intention to “shoot-up the school at some point today.”

Deputies discovered that both calls were made from the same phone number, traced back to a Lake Alfred woman whose son is a student at Winter Haven High School.

When questioned at their residence, the teen suggested that his stepfather made the calls, but detectives concluded that the threats were made by the boy himself.

The teen was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Bartow where he faces charges of false report of weapon of mass destruction, use of 2-way communication device in commission of a felony, and providing false information to law enforcement during an investigation.

“Phone calls like this aren’t funny… they’re not pranks, nor jokes,” Sheriff Grady Judd said in a release. “To the contrary, we are going to take each and every one of these type of calls seriously. And you can bet that anybody stupid enough to fool around like this is going to find out when we charge them with very serious criminal charges.”

News 6 is not naming or showing the teen’s face because of his age.