A disturbing incident unfolded earlier this week when two Polk County high schools were targeted with threats of violence, leading authorities to take swift action. The Polk County Sheriff's Office, more specifically their School Threat Assessment Team (STAT), responded to threatening phone calls made to Auburndale High School and Winter Haven High School on Monday, which prompted an urgent investigation.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, a call came in at 11:05 a.m. to Auburndale High claiming that a male student was in possession of an AK-47 and threatening to take hostages. Winter Haven High School received a similar threat at 11:11 a.m., with the caller indicating a planned school shooting. Both calls were traced back to a single phone number registered, to a Lake Alfred woman.
Utilizing the traced phone number, detectives interviewed the woman's son, Blake Maynard, a 16-year-old student at Winter Haven High School. The teen initially attempted to deflect blame onto his stepfather, but he ultimately did not convince the STAT detectives. Maynard was arrested for the threats, which were perceived as anything but trivial by the authorities.
"Phone calls like this aren't funny... they're not pranks, nor jokes. To the contrary, we are going to take each and every one of these type of calls, seriously. And you can bet that anybody stupid enough to fool around like this is going to find out when we charge them with very serious criminal charges," Sheriff Grady Judd said in a statement. The consequences for Maynard included charges of False Report of Weapon of Mass Destruction, Use of 2-way Communication Device in Commission of a Felony, and Providing False Information to Law Enforcement during an Investigation, as detailed by the Sheriff's Office.
Following his arrest, Maynard was taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Bartow where the seriousness of the situation was likely impressed upon him further.
