Youth sentenced for bomb threats
May 13, 2013
A 12-year-old Naples boy isn't going to be alone in atoning for calling 911 twice in March to report bombs in a local public school; Magistrate Judge Justin Julian was very clear last week in saying that his parents will pay consequences as well.

Julian on Thursday sentenced Jacob W. Fletcher to 180 days detention on both felony counts, a total of 360 days, and suspended all but two, opting to give the boy a chance at informal adjustment through the county juvenile probation department.

Fletcher, who is not a public school student, admitted to placing the calls March 18 and 19, the first of which caused the evacuation and early release of students in all five Boundary County public schools March 18. When he placed the second call a day later, sheriff's investigators were closing in, and the threat was treated as the hoax it was.

While Fletcher is not implicated in any of eight earlier fake bomb threats to disrupt schools, his were the last so far this year, and he's the first to admit his guilt and be sentenced. One other juvenile, also 12, has been charged with making a threat at the middle school, and a high school student was expelled earlier this year for allegedly making a threat at the high school, though criminal charges have not been filed in that case.

Under the sentence handed down, Fletcher must serve two days' detention in the Bonner County Juvenile Detention Center, paying $110 per day, and serve 320 hours, 40 eight-hour days, of community service. His parents, the judge said, will have to take time off to get him to and from scheduled work days. They must both also accompany him to a series of meetings with agencies affected by his two calls; Boundary County Sheriff Greg Sprungl, Bonners Ferry Police Chief Steve Benkula, the Bonners Ferry City Council, Boundary County Commissioners and the principal of each school disrupted by the calls.

He must also pay $232 court costs, and serve three year's supervised probation, during which he must abide by a long list of restrictions and be subject to visitation at any time.