Student arrested after bomb threat at Waterloo Edcuation Complex

ATWATER, Ohio - A 16-year-old male student has been arrested after allegedly making a bomb threat at the Waterloo Local Schools education complex Monday morning.

Portage County Sheriff David Doak said the school superintendent’s office received a phone call just after 7 a.m. stating that a bomb was in one of the schools.

The Waterloo school complex is made up of the elementary school, the middle school and the high school.

Students, teachers and other staff were evacuated and classes were canceled for the day. Students were moved to the stadium, where they were picked up by their parents.

Approximately one dozen sheriff deputies, along with school administration members began a search of the school after the call was made.

During the investigation, deputies identified the phone number where the threatening call originated. Contact was made with the teenage student, who acknowledged making the call.  

The student, who attends Waterloo High School, has been charged with one count of inducing panic and one county of making false alarms.

He is currently being held at the Portage/Geauga Juvenile Detention Facility.

Waterloo Superintendent Andrew Hill said classes will be in session on Tuesday.
 
Hill sent this letter to parents Monday morning:

"Good morning.  The following facts pertain to the situation we experienced this morning:

A bomb threat was called into our district this morning a little after 7:00 a.m.  Our students and adults who were on campus at the time were evacuated to our stadium.  The Portage County Sheriff Department was immediately notified, resulting in numerous deputies, detectives and Sheriff Doak arriving on our campus in a very timely manner.

The search found no explosive devices on our campus and the Sheriff Department has notified me that they have been able to find the individual responsible for the threat. At this point, we are going to cancel the remaining portion of our school day.  We have roughly fifty students who are still on our campus; we will work to contact the parent/guardian of each.  School will resume tomorrow.

I want to thank the Portage County Sheriff Department for their quick and efficient response.  I also want to thank you for your assistance and patience this morning as you picked up your child at our stadium.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 330-947-2664 or at ahill@viking.portage.k12.oh.us."