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MORGANTON – A 27-year-old man suspected of making more than 250 false bomb threats between May 21 and July 6 to buildings across Burke County pleaded guilty as charged Monday morning at a Burke County Superior Court hearing before Judge W. Todd Pomeroy.

Cody Matthew Startt was arrested July 6 at the home of Startt’s girlfriend in Matoaka, W.Va. He had been on parole for a previous conviction of making false bomb threats.

“This was solved by old-fashioned police work and high-tech means,” District Attorney David Learner said. “He was astonished; he could not believe he could be caught.”

Startt used one smartphone app to make the calls, and then listened into the Foothills Live Police Scanner app to monitor responses, Learner said. Startt, in court, admitted to using methamphetamine during the calls.

Pomeroy sentenced Startt to 133 to 253 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised probation for a suspended sentence of 126 to 246 months.

Pomeroy told Learner he could not make the probation period longer, as no restitution figure had been submitted yet.

“I am very satisfied with what Judge Pomeroy has done today,” said Learner after the hearing. “I believe it set a very clear message.”

Startt still faces charges for 60 false bomb threats in Caldwell County and 100 in Catawba, Learner said during the hearing.