By Eamon Baird
TROY — Schools across Miami County were targets of a national email hoax on Sunday, Dec. 10.
According to statements from multiple schools, the threats claimed to be from Russian terrorists alleging the presence of explosive devices on schools’ campuses.
Joe Hurst, superintendent of the Bradford Exempted Village School District, said the following message was shared with parents concerning the email the district received:
“This afternoon, many school districts across the state of Ohio received an email message threatening school buildings from an account claiming to be a Russian terrorist. It was reported on Friday that school districts in Texas received the same message.
Bradford and other surrounding schools have been working with law enforcement to search and secure facilities. The Bradford school building has been searched identifying nothing as suspicious and the threat has been deemed non-credible.
As always, the health and safety of our students and staff is our first priority.”
Milton-Union Schools added school would continue as scheduled on Monday after conducting a thorough search of the premises:
“The current situation has not been identified as a credible threat by law enforcement, but Milton-Union and other schools in Miami County are working with local police and the Sheriff’s Department (Office) to search and secure facilities.
Specifically, Miami County Sheriff’s deputies and local police officers have already conducted building checks and searched Milton-Union school facilities to ensure the safety of its facilities for students and staff members. Milton-Union will be in session tomorrow, Monday, Dec. 11, 2023.”
Aaron Moran, superintendent of Tipp City Schools, issued the following statement Sunday evening after receiving the threat:
“Recently, the district, along with many other local school districts and districts statewide, received a threatening email purporting a bomb in ‘American Schools.’ Out of concern, Tipp City Police will survey the buildings for any potential issues this evening.
While both Tipp City Schools and Tipp City Police believe the email is concerning, we do not deem this email a credible threat. Tipp City Schools will be in session at the regular times on Monday, Dec. 11.”
Not all of the school districts in Miami County received the threatening emails. Troy City Schools issued the following statement on the city schools’ Facebook page:
“We understand several schools across Ohio have received threatening emails from an alleged Russian terrorist organization. Authorities have deemed these threats are not credible at this time.
The Troy City Schools did NOT receive one of these emails and will communicate it to our families immediately if we do.”
Piqua City Schools said they were not part of the group that received the email hoax.
At Troy Rotary’s annual Designated Driver Awareness Program, held Monday in conjunction with the Miami County Sheriff’s Office, local law enforcement, including Miami County Sheriff Dave Duchak, confirmed the recent batch of emails sent to local schools appears to be the exact wording of an email previously sent out in recent months to other schools across Ohio, and were determined to be a hoax. For some reason, they noted, this hoax only recently made it to Miami and neighboring counties.
Tipp City Police Officer Will Roberts said after Tipp City Schools received the threat they have received calls asking about it and the police department continues its due diligence to make sure everyone is safe.
Sheryl Roadcap and Mike Ullery contributed to this story.
