Police: Targets included schools and businesses in robocall delivery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Investigators have linked a 16-year-old Newport high school student to a campaign of bomb threats that employed automated telecommunications technology to target schools and businesses over the past two months, triggering evacuations and other disruptions and forcing an “inordinate use of law enforcement,” the state police said Tuesday.

The teenager, who was not identified by name due to his age, faces a slate of charges that includes 15 counts of making a bomb threat, according to a news release issued Col. Stephen G. O’Donnell, superintendent of the state police.

Investigators do not expect any additional arrests but continue to look for any accomplices and they are also trying to find any connections between the threats involving the Newport youth and a rash of recent robocall threats being investigated by Massachusetts police, said state police Detective Maj. Joseph Philbin.

“Hopefully we can find something to help,” he said.

The announcement of the teen’s arrest on Tuesday is the latest development in a bomb threat case that evokes the advanced technology and globalism of the modern era.

The threats were delivered with a type of automated “robocalling” technology such as the systems that politicians and telemarketers employ to bring messages to voters and consumers.

Only in this situation, the phone rang and a robotic voice threatened harm: in Warwick, say the police, the message was that bombs had been locked in the boiler room and that any police officers headed to the school would encounter armed shooters, nerve gas and suicide bombers with explosive vests.

Initially, the joint investigation, which included the FBI and Newport police, uncovered an electronic trail that led to St. Petersburg, Russia.

At that point, investigators thought they needed a certain type of cooperation that Russian authorities are not known to offer, Philbin said.

But the investigators found another way and their work took them to the suspect who was arrested on Friday. The teenager’s school, Rogers High School, was targeted in the scheme, according to the police.

The suspect had used robocalling technology to make calls and disguise his voice, and he had tried to mask the origins of the threats by tapping into a service provided by a website in Russia, Philbin said.

The threats targeted schools and businesses in Providence, Bristol, Newport, Warwick, East Providence, Cranston, Tiverton and Middletown during a period that began in January. Fourteen of the calls targeted locations in Rhode Island but one call was out of state, said Philbin, who said he could not identify the place.

The juvenile suspect, who also faces two counts of extortion and blackmail and a charge of accessing a computer for fraudulent purposes, is being held at the Rhode Island Training School. His arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.

If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in the Adult Correctional Institutions, a fine of up to $1,000 for the bomb threats, or both. For the extortion and blackmail charge, he could face up to 15 years in the ACI, up to a $25,000 fine, or both.

With reports by staff writer Jacqueline Tempera

—mreynold@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @mrkrynlds