Police arrested a 16-year-old high school student in Antioch today in connection with a series of bomb threats at his own school and others over the past four days.
The arrest of the Deer Valley High School student came after three new bomb threats were made this morning targeting the high school and Black Diamond Middle School, according to police and Deer Valley High Principal Ken Gardner.
After the third bomb threat, police followed up on a lead that led them to the suspect, who admitted making the bogus calls to investigators, according to police.
"I want to personally extend my thanks to the Antioch Police Department and to Deer Valley staff and students -- some of who helped provide important information that led to the arrest," Gardner wrote in a message posted on the Deer Valley High School website today.
Police said officers were dispatched this morning to Black Diamond Middle School, located at 4730 Sterling Hill Drive, around 7:45 a.m. on reports of a bomb threat.
Officers responded around 9:40 a.m. and again at 10:50 a.m. to Deer Valley High, at 4700 Lone Tree Way, also due to bomb threats. Students were evacuated to outdoor athletic fields as police searched both campuses and found no evidence of a bomb.
Similar scenes have played out at Deer Valley High and Antioch High School over the past four days, after a suspect made five other phone calls stating that there was a bomb on those campuses, according to police. Police have deemed all of the threats hoaxes, and said the schools were never in any danger.
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Neither police nor Antioch Unified School District administrators were immediately available to comment further on the arrest. District Superintendent Donald Gill said Wednesday that any district student found to be responsible for the fake threats would be expelled, in addition to facing felony charges.
He said the bomb threats have repeatedly interrupted classes during a critical time in the school year as teachers prepare students for state testing and final tests in advanced placement classes.
Gill said the school district also planned to seek financial compensation for lost instruction time and other costs caused by the faux threats.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Koch at (925) 779-6895.
