Bomb Threat in Robo-Call

An anonymous bomb threat in a recorded telephone message at the Pierson Middle and High School on Monday caused the evacuation of the school, as well as the Sag Harbor Elementary School, for about an hour and a half while police and firefighters searched the buildings.

The message came in at 10:46 a.m. In a statement about an hour later, Katy Graves, the district superintendent, said police were contacted immediately. An all-clear allowing students to return to classes was issued at about 12:20 p.m.

Sag Harbor Village Police Chief Austin McGuire confirmed Monday afternoon that the anonymous message was a bomb threat. Reached by phone Wednesday he described it as a robo-call. “It was basically happening everywhere the same day. Ohio, Delaware, Massachusetts — unfortunately, Sag Harbor got on their list.” The chief said phone company officials were trying to pinpoint the origin of the call and from what they could tell so far the call came from overseas.

Firefighters from the Sag Harbor Fire Department responded to the threat by putting their trucks on standby at headquarters along with members of the Sag Harbor Volunteer Ambulance Corps. School administrators assisted in checking buildings.

“It’s unfortunate that someone did call in a bomb threat, but I can say that all the parts worked well together,” Chief McGuire said. “We followed the response plan by the book, and it went really well.”

A recorded bomb threat had been received at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton on March 16, resulting in its evacuation. Again nothing suspicious was found on inspection. A school in Portland, Me., received the same recorded threat that day, apparently from the same phone number.