James Albert Rhodes, 24, of Cadet has been sentenced to four years in prison for calling in a bomb threat against Festus Elementary School in August 2014, court papers show.
On Aug. 19, 2014, Festus Police got a call from Jefferson County 911 Dispatch reporting that a man made a bomb threat against the school. In addition, 911 gave Festus Police the cell phone number from which the call was made, the probable-cause statement said.
Festus police contacted the cell phone provider and tracked the phone to Crystal City, where police had taken three people into custody for stealing, and one of them had the cell phone, the report said.
Rhodes and another defendant in the case, Michael Asher, 23, of Hillsboro, were among the suspects and admitted to being involved in the bomb threat, according to the report.
Asher had borrowed a friend’s cell phone and Rhodes used it to make the call, the report said.
The two said they made the call in the hopes of getting police to leave the Crystal City area where they were hiding out after stealing a generator from a home there, according to the report said.
Rhodes pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat, and on Oct. 8, Jefferson County Div. 3 Circuit Judge Nathan sentenced him to four years in prison.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Douglas S. Pribble handled the case.
The four-year term is to be served concurrent, or at the same time, with a seven-year term Rhodes previously was sentenced to for possession of a controlled substance, court records indicate.
That incident occurred in October 2012 in Jefferson County, and after Rhodes pleaded guilty to the class C felony, he got five years’ probation. He violated the probation, though, and in March 2015, he was sentenced to seven years.
He currently is in the Moberly Correctional Center.
Asher also has pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat, a class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison, and his sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, before Stewart, according to court records.