Suspect Received 14-Month Prison Sentence for 2012 Incident
SAN JOSE—Members of the Hollister Police Department and San Benito High School personnel were sitting in a courtroom of the United States District Court when they heard the sentence brought down by District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh. She sentenced 30-year-old Jason Keith Smith of Lincoln Park, Michigan, to prison, followed by supervised release.
The Hollister Police Department and the San Benito High School representatives were there to offer testimony in this case. Their statements offered insights to be considered by Judge Koh during the sentencing.
United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent David Johnson made the official announcement that Jason Keith Smith had been sentenced to 14 months in prison and 3 years supervised release for making telephone bomb treats to San Benito High School.
The supervised released also comes with special conditions that include Smith not making any phone calls to San Benito High School, nor possessing any computer without permission from his probation officer.
Smith was formally charged in an indictment filed on February 19, 2014 and has been in federal custody since October 6, 2014. Northern District of California Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Mulcahy prosecuted the case with assistance of Laurie Worthen.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI in Northern California and Detroit, the Hollister Police Department and the Lincoln Park Police Department. Smith was found to have made several calls from his home in Michigan. It appeared that the threats involved his efforts to get in contact with one particular girl student. The FBI quoted his as saying in a message left at San Benito High “And by the way, I want you to look up this one chick named [the Student]. If she goes to school there, please let her know that I am watching her.” In one call, he claimed to be a police detective and said that the girl was in trouble and needed to contact him. His calls and threats occurred over several days during December 2012.
Smith pleaded guilty on March 3, 2015 to an indictment charging him with communication threats in violation of 18 U.S.C 875(C).
