Students arrested for terrorist threats to two Bay Minette schools

BAY MINETTE, Al.
Police arrested three students in two separate incidents involving bomb threats made to Bay Minette schools, officers said today.

Jerome Anthony Henry

Jerome Anthony Henry, 18, of Stockton was arrested Thursday and charged with making a terrorist threat in a phone call to the Baldwin County High School office. Police Chief Mike Rowland said Henry borrowed the phone of a 17-year old friend to place the call around 11 a.m.
Rowland said the younger student was also charged because he knew of Henry’s plan to make a bomb threat. Both students were in the school building at the time the call was placed, officials said.
“Following the school’s safety plan, the school was evacuated, teachers and administrators helped search classrooms and school, which is standard procedure,” Rowland said. “If anyone can detect anything out of place, teachers and administrators can.”
Rowland said law enforcement assisted and after sweeping the building and campus, students were returned to class and “placed on lockdown”.
The arrests were made within two hours of the call, Rowland said, and both students face felony criminal charges. Henry was booked at the Baldwin County Corrections Center with a $5,000 bond and the 17-year old juvenile was released to his father. Both students will face an expulsion hearing, school officials said.
A seventh grade student was arrested after a Bay Minette Middle School employee found a letter in a school bathroom Feb. 23 stating that said a bomb was on the campus. At the time of her arrest, the student said she was hoping to get her former boyfriend in trouble, officials said. She has also been suspended and faces an expulsion hearing, school officials said.
In both instances, Baldwin County School System offered a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the threats. Baldwin County Superintendent Dr. Alan Lee praised the police department’s quick response and the students who came forward with information. “When campus disaster has been averted across the country, it has been because students stepped up and reported suspicious activity to administrators and law enforcement,” Lee said.
The superintendent said this type of “criminal behavior will not be tolerated and there is no room in our schools for people who do such.”
He said the bomb threats and arrests come at a time when BCHS has been praised for its work in spearheading the Digital Renaissance in Baldwin County, which has resulted in a drop in discipline referrals. “I’m hearing great things from across the country about the success that students and teachers are achieving at Baldwin County High School,” Lee said. “We will not allow the selfish acts of a few tarnish this school’s great reputation.”