A 14 year old student has been arrested in connection with a telephone threat that triggered a lockout and subsequent early dismissal at Sullivan County BOCES on May 8.

The BOCES main office on Wierk Avenue in Liberty received a telephone threat that was left on an answering machine on Thursday evening. The recording of the threat was discovered by staff Friday morning when they came to work.

The Sheriff’s Deputy assigned to BOCES as the School Resource Officer was notified and immediately contacted all law enforcement agencies in the county since the threat did not specify a particular BOCES facility. While the investigation progressed, BOCES administration first implemented their “lockout” procedure and then dismissed classes early.

All students and staff had either left the BOCES facilities or returned to their home school districts by 12:30 PM. According to Sheriff Mike Schiff, Detectives from the Village of Liberty Police and Sheriff’s Office worked late Friday night consolidating their leads.

“They worked with District Attorney James Farrell Friday night, who personally drew up a search warrant”, said the Sheriff. Saturday morning the detectives executed the search warrant at a residence on Tyler Rd. in the Town of Cochecton.

At that location Detectives seized property which included computers, cellphones and a rifle. The target of the investigation, a 14 year old male was not home at the time.

Detectives learned that he was staying with a relative in Liberty. The suspect was tracked down just before noon Saturday at the elementary school playground behind the Liberty Police station. He was taken into custody without incident.

The youth, who the police will not identify because of his age, was charged with the Felonies of Falsely Reporting an Incident, Making a Terroristic Threat and the Misdemeanor of Aggravated Harassment. He was released to his parents and is due back in Family Court on May 13, 2015.

Sheriff Mike Schiff said that the suspect had attempted to use fairly sophisticated techniques to prevent his voice from being recognized and prevent authorities from tracking the phone call. The Sheriff would not elaborate on how detectives overcame these obstacles. The Sheriff stated that investigators do not believe the suspect ever intended to cause actual harm to anyone.

Sheriff Schiff praised the work of his deputies, Liberty Police Detective Mark Hess and thanked District Attorney James Farrell for bringing the investigation to a quick conclusion. The Sheriff also thanked the BOCES administration for their cooperation and quick response.