Ohio teen pleads guilty in Porter County bomb threats; Lake County trial still pending
An Ohio teen has pleaded guilty in connection with a string of bomb threats he called into Porter County schools in 2023.
Ryan Krajewski, 19, of Medina, Ohio, admitted Wednesday in Porter Superior Court to five counts of intimidation, each Level 5 felonies.
If Porter Superior Judge Jeffrey Clymer accepts, Krajewski would face a three-year cap on each charge – with a sentence ranging up to 15 years total.
Lawyers will argue how long his sentence should be and which parts could be served in some combination of prison, community corrections, home detention, probation, and other possible conditions he would have, including GPS monitoring.
In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop two counts of intimidation.
His sentencing hearing is set for July 11.
A charging affidavit accused Krajewski of calling in threats to Valparaiso High School, Portage High School, Wheeler High School, Union Township Middle School and the Valparaiso Police Department between Jan. 9 and Jan. 26, 2023.
The alleged calls began with a voicemail at 8:32 a.m. Jan. 9, 2023, to Valparaiso High School detailing a bomb threat. 'You have four hours until the bomb goes off and I will be there,' the suspect said in the call that was among many replayed at the hearing.
The second call was placed to the Valparaiso Police Department three minutes later and routed to the Porter County Sheriff's Dispatch Center where a dispatcher engaged with the suspect for approximately 15 minutes.
A heavy voice distorter was used on the second call, but the caller identified himself each time as a specific VHS student, though a different one each time. The high school went into a lockdown and Valparaiso Police Detective Sergeant Mark LaMotte, who took the stand first, said he was bombarded by several distressed parents in the parking lot who had to be asked by the superintendent of Valparaiso Community Schools to move their vehicles because they were blocking ingress for emergency vehicles.
That evening taunting voicemail messages were left at VHS that included racial slurs, but no threats of violence. On Jan. 17, 2023 at 11:23 a.m., a call was made directly to VHS in which the suspect said to the receptionist, 'I planted explosives in the building … I'll see you soon Jenny. You'll be at the end of my barrel.' More calls were received later that day and on Jan. 26, during which the suspect claimed he was in the school parking lot and in the school with an AR 10, a shotgun, and multiple pipe bombs at his disposal.
Additional calls were placed Jan. 26, 2023 to Portage High School, Wheeler High School, and Union Township Middle School making the same threats. The entire Portage Police Department's detective bureau, 25 patrol officers, several off-duty officers who happened to be in the area, as well as emergency services personnel staged themselves down the street in the Meijer parking lot for the PHS call while nine Porter County sheriff's deputies responded to the Wheeler calls.
In Lake County, Krajewski made threatening calls on Jan. 26, 2023 to Hobart High School, records allege.
'Hello. You have an hour until I come into your school and blow everything the (expletive) up! And, I'm going to shoot everybody who remains,' the message said. 'Do you understand? I'm not having a (expletive) good day here. So you can enjoy that.'
That trial is set in July.
At one point, he was suspected in more than 30 other 'swatting' cases, including one involving a leader of Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and another involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, records show.
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