Bomb call came from pay phone
Published 9:50 am Tuesday, April 14, 2009
ROME TOWNSHIP — The call that caused the evacuation of Fairland High School last month came from a pay phone at a Huntington, W.Va.- area restaurant, according to a trace made by the Verizon phone company.
Now investigators are continuing their search of the area for surveillance camera videos and eyewitness accounts.
About an hour after classes began at the high school on March 26, an anonymous caller phoned claiming a bomb was in the building. Authorities immediately evacuated the school, sending students and staff to a building nearby while a search ensued.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s office responded with assistance from the Rome Township Fire Department. No bomb was found on the premises.
A pay phone at the Pizza Hut restaurant on U.S. 60 in Barboursville, W.Va., has been determined as the location of the threatening call, Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless said.
There were no surveillance cameras at the restaurant and no one recalls seeing someone at the phone, the sheriff said. Now the investigation has expanded to nearby businesses.
“This is rare. We hardly face any in this county. With today’s technology it becomes more and more difficult,” Lawless said. “It can be traced in a hurry. But we do take them very seriously.”
In all likelihood the person making the call could face charges of inducing panic and making false alarms.
Anyone with any information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at (740) 532-3525.