Jay student arrested on felony charges after Tuesday’s text
A 13-year-old Jay juvenile is facing felony bomb threat charges after a school resource officer was notified by school staff of a text from one student to another advising of a possible bomb at the school.
Around 1 p.m., Tuesday, May 29, a school resource officer at Jay High School and several additional deputies met with Principal Stephen Knowlton, teacher Rebecca Holley and a student who said she had received a text message on her phone that stated 'The bomb is active get out of here', some symbols and '10 minutes', according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office report.
The text message prompted Knowlton to evacuate both the high school and close by Jay Elementary School. Student, faculty and staff were all sent to the football stadium, causing a major disruption of the school day, for both schools, the report said.
The threat was unfounded and the individual who sent the text was discovered to be a student who was supposedly playing a joke, the report said. School personnel and students were allowed to return to classes 30 to 45 minutes later.
The suspect was arrested and charged with making a false bomb threat and disruption of a school function and transported to the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office.
Jay High School's 2018 senior class walked across the stage that evening to receive their high school diplomas.
