Man calls 911 threatening to blow up school, then calls back asking for a ride, feds say

A man called 911 threatening to blow up a Montana school, then called back and asked for a ride from anyone except police officers, federal prosecutors said.

Jacob Edwin Wilson also phoned in the same threat directly to Dodson Public School, a small K-12 school in Dodson near the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, on the same day, Aug. 29, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana.

Staff and students were evacuated to a church parking lot as local and federal authorities searched the school and didn’t find any explosives, prosecutors said.

Now, Wilson faces up to five years in prison over making the threats, the attorney’s office announced in a Jan. 9 news release.

McClatchy News contacted a federal public defender representing him for comment on Jan. 11 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Wilson, described as a transient, pleaded guilty on Jan. 8 to false information and hoaxes in connection with the school threats, according to prosecutors.

A transient person doesn’t have a particular home and temporarily stays in different locations.

When Wilson called 911 the second time requesting a ride, he told the operator that he was at someone’s house and needed transportation — but specified he didn’t want a ride from Fort Belknap officers, prosecutors said.

Wilson’s call was traced to a person’s home on the Fort Belknap Reservation, where he was arrested, according to the attorney’s office.

About 80 students attend Dodson Public School. The majority of students are Native American and are of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes, according to the school’s website.

McClatchy News contacted school district Superintendent Gary Weitz for comment on Jan. 11 and didn’t immediately receive a response.

Dodson is about 275 miles northeast of Helena.

This story was originally published January 11, 2024 at 8:16 AM with the headline "Man calls 911 threatening to blow up school, then calls back asking for a ride, feds say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.