Second teen arrested for bomb threats

EPHRATA — In one week, police have apprehended two students following three separate and possibly unrelated bomb threats at Ephrata schools.

The Ephrata Police Department made the second arrest on Monday after the Moses Lake-based Multi Agency Communications Center received a telephone call from a male subject reporting a bomb at Ephrata Middle School.

Ephrata Police Chief Joe Varick said Monday's bomb threat was not related to either of the two threats made early last week to Ephrata High School.

During Monday's police response, students and staff were evacuated and the middle school was searched, but no suspected device was found, Varick said.

The dispatch center provided the cell phone number used to make the bomb threat. Investigators determined the phone was connected to a pre-paid account with no account information.

While students waited at the nearby Ephrata National Guard Armory during the search, police determined the phone used to make the call was inside the armory. Investigators believed the phone was located inside with the evacuees after calls were made to the phone by the dispatch center and police, Varick said.

Using that information, police obtained a search warrant and prepared to search all students. When the school principal announced police were going to begin their search, some of the students with knowledge of the threat came forward and provided information, he said.

The phone was recovered from a 13-year-old male middle school student who later confessed to making the bomb threat. He was booked into Grant County Juvenile for threats to bomb and injure property.

Ephrata police received assistance from the Grant County Sheriff's Office along with the city's public works and fire departments. The Grand Coulee Police Department provided an explosives detection dog used in the sweep.

Police wrapped up their investigation by 12:40 p.m. and students eventually returned to class, Varick said.

Last week, police arrested a 15-year-old Ephrata High School student after he allegedly contacted the dispatch center and made a bomb threat against all Grant County schools, eventually emptying Ephrata, Royal City and Warden high schools.

In that arrest last Tuesday, the dispatch center turned over the cell phone number used and investigators determined the phone was stolen the previous day. Witness information led to the suspect.

On Monday of last week, Varick said a juvenile male caller phoned the high school and reported a bomb inside the school. There was no suspected device found and police did not make arrests specifically related to the threat.

Officials will continue investigating all three recent bomb threats.