SRSO: Milton High School swatting calls net New Jersey teen a felony charge
Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson announced that a New Jersey teen is headed to Santa Rosa County Jail after being charged in multiple local swatting calls.
Brad Parga, 17, is being charged as an adult with one felony count of making a false report of using firearms in a violent manner and one misdemeanor count of interfering with school administration functions for making multiple, fake active shooter calls to Milton High School between February and April 2022.
"(State Attorney's Office) filed the charges in adult court and authorized nation-wide extradition, so Parga is currently en route to our jail," Johnson said at a press conference Monday morning. "We also have all his electronic devices and possibly have more charges coming."
Johnson said Parga allegedly began the calls in February 2022 when Milton High School received a call about a mass shooting that would occur on campus, but after the SRSO, FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement responded to the school, it was discovered the call was a hoax.
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Three days after that call, Johnson says the Milton Police Department received a call about pipe bombs and pressure cooker bombs on Milton High School's campus.
"Feb. 23, we received a call at the (Sheriff's Office) saying that a shooting has occurred at a residence," Johnson said. "We get there, find out it's a hoax and the caller calls back saying law enforcement 'was swatted.'"
During that call with the SRSO, Parga allegedly admitted to making the swatting calls to Milton High School.
After developing a suspect in March 2022, Johnson said law enforcement received a final call on April 11 from Milton High School. This time, a girl said her boyfriend was coming to the school to "shoot her in the head."
After speaking with the student, law enforcement discovered the person who threatened her was the same person as the SRSO's suspect in the previous swatting calls, leading to Parga's eventual arrest.
Johnson declined to discuss the specifics of how investigators identified Parga as a suspect, saying he did not want to expose the Sheriff's Office investigative techniques.
Santa Rosa County District Schools Superintendent Karen Barber attended the press conference, saying the alleged calls Parga made were "selfish and irresponsible" and disrupted the learning opportunities for the students.
"Attendance and student learning were significantly impacted on three separate days," Barber said. "Students were at no time in any danger, but the possibility of the threats really led to the decisions by some students and their families to keep their students home. Those students can't get those days back."
Johnson also said the SRSO takes these calls seriously and will use all resources available to find and bring anyone making swatting calls to justice.
"When it comes to swatting and calling in fake calls like this, we're going to go to the ends of the earth get you," he said. "If you make a false call and make us run lights and sirens to a school and scare all the kids, we're going to find you, and I don't care if you're in New Jersey (or) California. We will bring you back to face charges."
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Santa Rosa deputies extradite New Jersey teen in Milton swatting calls
