Pasco Sheriff's deputies evacuated a building in the 7500 block of Little Road in New Port Richey yesterday afternoon and are searching it extensively after someone at the location received a generic message perceived as a possible bomb threat. The evacuation was ordered out of an abundance of caution, and the sheriff's office says the incident appears to be isolated.
According to a Pasco Sheriff's Office community alert posted Thursday, an individual at the address received the message and the property was cleared while deputies conduct a thorough search of the building. The agency said it has no additional information available at this time. The 7500 block of Little Road is home to the West Pasco Judicial Center, which houses the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, the Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller, and the State Attorney's Office, according to the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.
A Familiar Playbook for West Pasco Deputies
Thursday's response follows a pattern deputies have repeated across West Pasco in recent months. Earlier this month, deputies arrested a 12-year-old middle school student on felony threat charges, part of what the sheriff's office describes as a broader trend of placing campuses and facilities on controlled status while investigating threats, Hoodline previously reported. In April, deputies evacuated and performed a room-by-room search at River Ridge High School in New Port Richey after an anonymous bomb threat that investigators determined was a swatting hoax, in a story Hoodline covered as a bomb hoax sweep.
The judicial complex itself has been evacuated before. In July 2002, the West Pasco Judicial Center was cleared for more than two hours after a bomb threat prompted deputies and emergency teams to search the courthouse, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Steep Penalties Await Anyone Behind a Hoax
Florida law treats bomb threats against public buildings with some of the harshest penalties on the books. Threatening to place or discharge a destructive device with intent to cause bodily harm or property damage is a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 790.162, according to the Florida Legislature, and that statute applies regardless of whether a suspect actually has the means to carry out the threat.
Separately, knowingly making a false report concerning the planting of a bomb is a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 790.163, punishable by up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, per the Florida Legislature. State law also bars deferring sentences or withholding adjudication in those cases. A newer state provision, enacted under Florida Statute § 817.49, makes it a second-degree felony to knowingly file a false report that triggers a SWAT or tactical emergency response, according to the Florida Senate.
Administrative guidelines from the Florida Department of Education call for zero-tolerance handling of bomb threats and false reports under Sections 790.162 and 790.163, mandating immediate law enforcement referral and prosecution review regardless of how credible a threat initially appears.
New Port Richey's Civic Hub on Little Road
New Port Richey is a Gulf Coast city of more than 16,000 residents that serves as the western administrative and judicial hub for Pasco County within the Tampa Bay metro area, with Little Road standing as a major arterial lined with key government facilities. The corridor has seen other major emergency responses in recent years, including a December 2024 incident in which deputies shot a knife-wielding man during an attempted gun store break-in nearby.
The sheriff's office has not released the exact wording of the message that prompted Thursday's evacuation, nor confirmed whether the threat specifically named the judicial center. Anyone with information on active investigations is asked to contact the Pasco Sheriff's Office non-emergency line at 727-847-8102, option 7, or submit a tip through its online portal.
