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Attorney General Mike DeWine
BCI Assists Law
Enforcement in Tracking Online Sources of School Threats
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Following the arrest of a 16-year-old by the Scioto
County Sheriff’s Department for five counts of inducing panic and one
count of making a terroristic threat, Ohio Attorney General Mike
DeWine, Scioto County Sheriff Marty V. Donini, and Pike County Sheriff
Charles Reader, today announced that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal
Investigation (BCI) cyber crimes and criminal intelligence analysts
helped law enforcement identify where the threats were coming from
online. In addition, information found by BCI during the
investigative process was given to Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff
Lawless’ office on a different school threat.
Early last evening the Scioto County Sheriff’s Office, the Portsmouth
Police Department, and the Pike County Sheriff’s Office and the New
Boston Police Department received calls from concerned parents about a
social media post from a Snapchat account in the name of Brie
Savage. The post stated that New Boston, Portsmouth, Clay, West
and Waverly Schools better watch out that someone was coming to shoot
people at the schools.
Sheriff Reader asked for the assistance of BCI’s Cyber Crimes Unit and
Criminal Intelligence Unit to help track where the threats were
emanating from electronically. BCI personnel were able to trace
back the Snapchat account to an address on State Route 23 in
Portsmouth. Scioto County Sheriff’s Office detectives along
with the Portsmouth Police Department responded to this location at
1:40 a.m. where two juveniles were detained for questioning as a result
of this investigation.
In addition, other information BCI gathered last night in the
investigation was given to the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office for
help in a separate investigation of school safety threats.
“We all take the safety of our students very seriously. Through the
quick work of our cyber analysts, we were able to get critical
information to local law enforcement that helped them make an arrest,
and avoid a potentially terrible situation,” said Ohio Attorney General
Mike DeWine. “I want to take this opportunity to remind law
enforcement across Ohio that BCI is available 24/7 to help with cases
like this when requested by local law enforcement.”
“I would like to thank BCI for the quick response,” said Scioto County
Sheriff Marty V. Donini. “They helped lead us to the location
where the threats were coming from and we were able to make arrests
early this morning before anything terrible happened.”
“The quick work of BCI and all of our law enforcement partners helped
avoid a potential tragedy,” said Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader.
“Having access to information is critical. I appreciate the timely
information the BCI analysts gave us last night to help with an
investigation in Lawrence County,” said Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff
Lawless.
Local law enforcement can request the assistance of BCI for
investigative help 24/7 by calling 855-BCI-OHIO.
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