FBI Helped Crack Dublin Teen's Alleged Bomb Threats to 'Heleena'
Three days of anonymous phone calls rattled police, administrators, parents and students, and prompted evacuations and school closures last week in Helena, MT.
Montana officials are taking a hard line against a Dublin teenager -- who they blame for three days of school bomb threats that caused panicked administrators and police to call in the FBI and cancel classes for 9,000 students -- as the alleged anonymous caller who mispronounced his target town of Helena.
The FBI was called in and helped identify the source of the phone calls -- allegedly a 14-year-old male from Dublin -- tracked through a "Magic Jack" phone number he reportedly used to place the anonymous calls, according to court documents.
Records state that on March 17, an anonymous male called dispatchers at the Helena Interagency Dispatch Center claiming there was a bomb in the town's Capital High School gymnasium.
"Bomb in gym. Capital High. 100 Valley Drive. Please come quick," was the message, court records state.
Police officials searched the gym, but found no explosives, files state.
Two days later -- on March 19 -- another call came in to the Helena dispatchers -- this time threatening a Helena public elementary school, records said.
During this second threat, records state, the male caller -- whom officials suspected of being a teenager from his voice -- allegedly mispronounced Helena, calling it "Heleena" and told the dispatcher, "Hi. I just left two backpacks with C-4 at the elementary school, and I am about to blow them up."
"Who's laughing now?" the caller reportedly added, files said.
As the Helena dispatcher attempted to determine which elementary school was targeted, court papers said the caller answered with: "It's going to blow."
That threat prompted evacuations at all area elementary schools, which Helena news stations said resulted in massive traffic problems throughout Lewis & Clark County.
Investigators were able to capture an internet phone number from that second call and matched it to the first phone call, documents stated.
The court filings said yet a third call to the dispatch center on March 21 was logged that warned bombs were in place in all Helena elementary schools and set to detonate at noon.
This prompted a second mass evacuation of the schools and cancellation of classes for 9,000 students and staff, records state.
Meanwhile, the FBI tracked the phone number to the Dublin teen, records said.
After his Friday arrest at Dublin High, court documents state he confessed to the calls claiming he was acquainted with a 16-year-old Helena high schooler he met through online Xbox gaming. No motivation for the bomb threats were released in the court papers.
The teen's name has not been released due to his minor status, and the investigation is ongoing.
