Jose Enrique Balbona

Officers at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said today that they received a call Wednesday at 10:14 a.m. about a bomb threat at East Lee County High School, 715 Thomas Sherwin Avenue, Lehigh.

When deputies arrived on the scene Sheriff’s Spokesman Larry King said it was confirmed that a an unknown person had called the school and said there was a bomb in the gymnasium.

School administrators initiated the orderly evacuation of the premises, King said.

Students were moved to a safe location and as a result of the threat, King said the Southwest Florida Regional Bomb Squad was notified and a technician and bomb sniffing canine responded to search the gym area.

Once it was determined that no explosive devices were present, students and school officials were allowed back into the school.

Detectives assumed the investigation and a suspect was identified as Jose Enrique Balbona with a date of birth of Sept. 1, 1994, making him age 15 of 2435 Ansel Avenue S., Lehigh.

King said evidence was collected and Balbona was identified as the caller. He was arrested and charged with one count of false report about planting bomb, explosive, or weapon of mass destruction, a second degree felony and one count of disrupting a school, a second degree misdemeanor.

He was transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center and booked.