Two individuals were recently arrested for calling a Central Florida school principal to report a bomb.
Earlier this month, the principal of Ridge Community High School in Haines City notified the School Resource Deputy at the facility, that she received three phone calls from an unknown male; the first call she heard nothing, the second call she heard, “I have a bomb,” and the third call she heard, “It was a joke.”
The ensuing Polk County Sheriff’s Office investigation determined that the phone number belonged to 18-year-old Jaimelias Rivera-Rodriguez.
According to local law enforcement, contact was made with Rivera-Rodriguez and he admitted to making the calls. He told the deputy that his friend, 18-year-old Ethan Bork gave him the principal’s phone number and told him to call it and say that he had a bomb.
When contact was made with Ethan Bork, he told the deputy that he did not know why he gave Jaimelias the principal’s phone number, nor why he told him to say that he had a bomb.
Both suspects were arrested and taken to the Polk County Jail and charged with: False Report of a Bomb, Conspiracy to Commit Offense with Destructive Device, Use of 2-Way Communication Device to Commit Felony, and Make Harassing Phone Call.
“Regardless that there was no bomb, these type of calls are never just a joke,” said Sheriff Grady Judd. “They are not harmless pranks. They are stupid actions that have consequences; they are crimes, and we will find the people who make calls like this and put them in jail, just like we did with these two.”
Ethan Bork is a student at Ridge Community High School, and Jaimelias River-Rodriguez attended the school last year.
