State police charge 5 for bomb threats at Tug Valley, Pocahontas County high schools

NAUGATUCK, W.Va. — West Virginia State Police want students to know the major consequences of threatening to bomb a school after they filed juvenile petitions against five students in the last week.

The five are connected to bomb threats made at Tug Valley High School in Mingo County and Pocahontas County High School. Police said both threats were hoaxes.

Lt. Michael Baylous told MetroNews Monday they’re taking what kids may think as a “practical joke” very seriously.

“For whatever reason they want out of school early and they call in these bomb threats or leave a message somewhere and we’re responding to them,” said Baylous. “We just want to make it clear that these kids understand that there’s some serious consequences for this and it will effect the rest of their lives.”

Baylous said these two bomb threats were not the only incidents they’ve been called in for.

“These are just the two that we happened to respond to last week. We’ve seen more than that since the school year started,” he said.

With social media on the rise, Baylous said it allows troopers to identify a suspect more efficiently.

“It makes it so much easier with the conversations that are going out there to find out who’s beyond some of these acts,” he said. “We’re getting plenty of evidence to support the charges out here.”

The five juveniles have been charged with making terrorist threats. According to West Virginia State Code, they face thousands of dollars in fines and up to three years at a juvenile detention center.





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