CINCINNATI — Schools across much of Ohio received emailed threats over the weekend claiming bombs were planted within buildings in their districts.
At least some of the emails sent came from an account that claimed to be a Russian terrorist organization, which is similar to threats made to school districts in Texas on Friday. WCPO is still working to determine whether all of the emails made that claim.
The FBI has opened an investigation into the emails, which went out to schools in and around Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, but as of now there has been no indication any of the threats made were credible, FBI officials said.
"FBI Cincinnati is aware of an e-mail message circulating in Ohio regarding threats to school buildings," reads a statement from the FBI's Cincinnati field office. "While the FBI has no information to indicate a specific and credible threat, we will continue to work with our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners to gather, share, and act upon threat information as it comes to our attention. We urge the public to remain vigilant and report all suspicious activity to law enforcement immediately."
In the Greater Cincinnati region, the emails were sent to Sycamore Community Schools, Lakota Local School District, Princeton City Schools, Northwest Local School District, New Richmond Exempted Village School District and Hamilton City Schools, but it's possible more schools received the email as well.
Princeton City School Superintendent Elgin Card said the email they received from the alleged Russian terrorist group said because of the war they were targeting schools. He said the district will always take threats seriously despite an increase in swatting incidents.
"The one time you do think it's not serious, something could happen," Card said. "So we will always have the precaution."
Hamilton's superintendent, Michael Holbrook, released a statement to the Journal-News that said they are working with law enforcement, including the FBI, and that the safety of the district's staff and students comes first.
Sycamore schools sent an email to parents in the district, referring to it as a swatting incident. Their message said the Joint Terrorism Task Force verified there was no credibility to the threats in the email they received.
According to the statement made by New Richmond schools, the threat stated that "multiple explosive devices had been planted throughout certain buildings in our district."
All of the districts that received the email were searched by law enforcement officials and found to be safe.
"We need to find out who does this," Card said. "I know our law enforcement's working very hard to find that out. And the consequences they deserve, they should get."
In the Cleveland area, WCPO's sister station WEWS reported multiple districts in Northeast Ohio were also impacted, including Berea, Akron, Amherst, Brunswick, Parma, North Olmsted, Lakewood and Cuyahoga Falls.
News outlets in Columbus also reported schools throughout Central Ohio also received similar emailed threats. According to ABC station WSYX in Columbus, the emails were sent to Dublin City Schools, Hilliard City Schools, Olentangy Local School District, Big Walnut Local School District, Marysville Schools, Logan-Hocking Local School District, South-Western City Schools and Worthington Schools.
It's similar to September 2022, when school districts throughout Ohio were threatened through a hoax call. In that incident, police departments throughout the state received a 911 call claiming there was an active shooter inside a specific school building and that 10 people were injured.
In January, Governor Mike DeWine signed into law a bill that declared swatting a felony offense in Ohio.
Now, in Ohio, the minimum sentence for a person convicted of a fourth-degree felony is six months, but offenders can be sentenced to up to 18 months in prison. Those convicted can also be held liable for reimbursement of law enforcement resources used as a result of the false threat. If the swatting incident results in a person being injured, the offense becomes a second-degree felony, which carries an additional prison sentence of two to five years in prison and a maximum of $15,000 in fines.
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