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A former substitute teacher who made multiple false bomb threats, including against a southern Indiana school where she was employed, has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison.
Mary Fortner, 35, of Milltown, was sentenced Sept. 13, the same day she pleaded guilty to two counts of making hoax bomb threats. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced the sentence Monday.
According to the USAO, Fortner in January sent a bomb threat to a Milltown police officer using an anonymous messaging application. The threat targeted a Crawford County school where she was employed as a substitute teacher.
That same day, FBI agents and Crawford County sheriff’s deputies interviewed Fortner at her home and recovered her cellphone and other devices with a search warrant.
Fortner denied any knowledge of the bomb threat during multiple interviews with law enforcement.
Then in February, Fortner emailed the Corydon Democrat, a newspaper in Corydon, threatening to bomb several places, including Milltown Elementary School and the Corydon Cinemas.
The Harrison County Sheriff’s Department took Fortner into custody. The FBI determined the threat came from a mobile device that had been factory reset in an attempt to conceal the crime.
“This series of bomb threats shook the sense of safety that all of our children, teachers, and families deserve — and are especially egregious coming from an adult trusted to educate our children,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary Myers said in a news release. “These hoax threats needlessly caused an urgent and expansive law enforcement response.
“I commend the FBI, Harrison and Crawford County Sheriff’s Departments, and the Milltown Police Department for working together to quickly identify the perpetrator,” Myers continued. “The federal prison sentence imposed here demonstrates that threats of violence and terror are serious crimes that will not be tolerated in our communities.”
In addition to her prison term, Fortner will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following her release from federal prison, with the first two months to be served on home detention, according to Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker’s sentencing order.
“The Crawford County Sheriff’s Department would like to thank all the departments involved in resolving this case,” Crawford County Sheriff Jeff Howell said in the news release. “School safety should be a high priority for all agencies. Our nation’s youth is our greatest treasure. A special thanks to the Assistant U.S. Attorneys and federal agencies for their work ensuring that justice was served.”
Assistant U.S. attorneys Matthew Rinka and Kathryn Olivier prosecuted the case.
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