Former Rancho Cotate HS Student Convicted In Bomb Threat: Police

ROHNERT PARK, CA — A former Rancho Cotate High School student solicited and paid an 18-year-old Israeli man to make a bomb and mass shooting threat aimed at his school in February and March 2017, Rohnert Park Public Safety officials said Tuesday.

Neither threat was credible, public safety Sgt. Jeff Justice said.

The Israeli man operated a Dark Web marketplace where he offered to make the threats in exchange for payment. The FBI charged him with making a bomb and active shooter threats aimed at schools, Jewish community centers and other institutions in the United States for payment, Justice said.

The FBI assisted Rohnert Park Public Safety detectives with their investigation and the analysis of virtual currency, Dark Web and other financial transactions, Justice said.

The FBI investigation also identified the former Rancho Cotate High School student as the person who solicited and paid for the threats, Justice said. The student, now an adult, was not identified because he was a minor and a junior at the high school at the time.

In March, Rohnert Park Public Safety detectives obtained a warrant for the arrest of the former student from Sonoma County Juvenile Court. In April 2019, the student turned himself in and he was recently convicted, Justice said.

The bomb threat was received by phone on Feb. 27, 2017, when school was not in session, but athletic teams and some staff members were evacuated.

On March 8, 2017, an explosives and mass shooting threat was emailed to the high school around 11:30 a.m. All staff and students were evacuated and the school was closed for the afternoon.

— Bay City News Service