For the second time in as many months, Jefferson County schools were disrupted by e-mailed bomb threats – part of an apparent statewide campaign.
Once again, there were no bombs.
On the evening of Jan. 16, threats were sent by email around 8:30 p.m. to administrators and board trustees at Jefferson High School, Whitehall High School, and Montana City School, according to the county Sheriff’s Office and school officials.
Amid graphic language, the emails warned that “by the time you recieve (sic) this it is too late, we have planted explosives in your school. You will not find them so do not bother looking.”
The three schools were among 20 in Montana to receive the same e-mailed threat, said Emilee Cantrell, a spokesperson for the Justice Department. The e-mails reportedly were sent in two bursts, with multiple school officials copied in each message.
The Justice Department is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to investigate the threat reports, Cantrell said.
James Everett, the county undersheriff who manages the office’s relationships with area schools, said that deputies — some of them off-duty — were dispatched to each of the schools, where they performed inspections for suspicious devices.
At Jefferson High, Superintendent Erik Wilkerson, Business Manager Lorie Carey and at least one trustee received the email threat, Wilkerson said. Custodians were working in the building at the time, he said, but no other staff or students. No one was present at Whitehall High School, where two administrators and five board members received the threat, according to Superintendent Hannah Nieskens.
Montana City School Superintendent Tony Kloker said the school began working with law enforcement after hearing from a Jefferson High official that a Montana City board member had been included in the email list. Kloker met deputies at 10 p.m. that evening enabling them to conduct a search.
All three schools held class as usual the following day, with an increased law enforcement presence at each. Most of the school affected by threats appeared to do the same, although classes and school activities were cancelled in Cascade.
Everett said the specific language used in the Jan. 16 threat e-mail was different from that sent to officials at Boulder Elementary School on Dec. 14, which prompted an evacuation of students and staff. But the logic of the threat was similar, he said: Both e-mails were related to the evolving conflict in the Middle East.
The December threat at Boulder Elementary was one of close to a dozen similar reports at schools and other entities across the state; schools in Maine, Oregon and Idaho also received threats that week.
