April 3, 2003 – Four bomb threats were called in to three different facilities on St. Thomas Thursday — two schools and the criminal justice center on the waterfront.
Sgt. Thomas Hannah, Police public information officer, said a call indicating the Alexander A. Farrelly Criminal Justice Complex "would be blown up" was received about 3:15 p.m. He said the building was evacuated and searched and no device was found.
The same procedure was followed at Charlotte Amalie High School, where one call was received, and at Addelita Cancryn Junior High School, where there were two.
The procedure has become all but routine at Cancryn, where Thursday's threats were the fifth and sixth bomb scares in recent weeks. A single threat emptied the school on Wednesday. (See "Another bomb scare empties Cancryn — into rain".)
Hannah, once again, issued stern warnings. He said: "We want to make it clear to the entire community we will prosecute to the fullest extent any individual making these threats." Further, he said, the Police Department is about to "go high-tech, using the facilities of Innovative Telephone and the FBI." He said land-line telephone calls can be traced quickly, but it's more difficult when a call is from a cellular phone.
"With the high state of alert, these threats are not being taken lightly," Hannah said. "If we catch you, you are going to jail."
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