TOLEDO — An 18-year-old from Oregon is facing federal charges for allegedly making bomb threats to several schools in Ohio earlier this year.
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Nathan Hayes, of Sweet Home, Oregon, was indicted by a federal grand jury this week on six counts of making threatening communications involving explosives, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.
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The U.S. Attorney’s Office specifically identified six northern Ohio schools that received threats on or around March 4. They were located in Lucas, Wood, Cuyahoga, Lake, and Geauga counties.
Law enforcement began investigating the threats, which were made to at least 17 schools in Ohio, earlier this year. These threats led to impacted schools being placed on lockdown.
The threats were later found to be swatting calls from out of state, according to court records.
An investigation identified Hayes as the caller who allegedly used multiple aliases to threaten schools and organizations, offered swatting services for sale, and doxed at least one person in Illinois.
Hayes also allegedly followed the media coverage of the threats to see public reaction.
He’s set to appear in court next week.
If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
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