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| Tyler Swope, who was charged with calling in a false bomb threat to Highlands High School, has been convicted./FB |
In the same week Amelia High School parents were notified of a terror threat and had to wait hours in traffic to retrieve their children from school, the man charged with reporting a false bomb threat to Highlands High School last January has been convicted.
20-year-old Tyler Swope of Bellevue and Highlands graduate, who Fort Thomas Police identified and charged in March of last year, pled guilty in front of Campbell County Judge Fred Stine to one count of terroristic threatening in the first degree and five counts of falsely reporting an incident.
These were the same counts with which he was originally charged by FTPD.
Like in Batavia this week, many Highlands parents expressed frustration that the bomb threat, which was called in at 7 a.m. on Jan. 15, 2014, did not warrant a message asking them to keep their children home.
In a statement to FTM on the day of the bomb threat, Assistant Superintendent Rita Byrd said, “We moved as quickly as we could and I hope parents understand that the safety of the people in the building is our first priority. As soon as we addressed those safety issues we implemented our plan for these situations.”
For more details of the bomb threat, see FTM’s full coverage here.
Later that same year, Byrd updated FTM on the school district’s response to questions raised, in light of the incident, about its emergency protocol: “Administrators have discussed our emergency protocols since the bomb threat as that is a charge that we are expected to do as part of our jobs. We are continuing to review what’s in place and update the various areas as needed. While we have made a few updates, the basic emergency protocols that have been in place since the beginning of the year are still current. We are also looking at professional development activities for our faculty and staff to make sure we have safety procedures in place at all schools.”
Swope is a former volunteer firefighter in Southgate, and also volunteered his time at the Kenton County Animal Shelter.
The court will hand down Swope’s sentence on Feb. 2.
– Staff report