Stephen Wright

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said today that authorities received a 911 call from someone who said a bomb was planted in a classroom at Cypress Lake High School, located at 6750 Panther Lane, Fort Myers, on March 22 at 8:39 a.m.

The caller then disconnected. Law enforcement personnel immediately responded to the school as nearly 2,000 students and faculty members were evacuated from the building, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Sheehan. After four hours, a search of the school revealed nothing harmful, he said.

Sheehan said detectives assigned to the case were able to trace the suspect’s phone call to a disconnected cell phone. Through the course of the investigation, they were able to determine the call had been made by someone within one mile of Cypress Lake High School.

Around the same time, Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers received several tips identifying Stephen Wright, 16, as the person responsible for the threat, Sheehan said. Following these leads, detectives returned to the school on March 23 and located multiple witnesses who actually heard and saw Wright make the phone call from inside the school, according to Sheehan.

Based on information obtained from the witnesses and through the course of the investigation, deputies arrested Stephen Wright and charged him with one felony count of making a false bomb threat. He was arrested and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.