National slew of bomb threats reaches local colleges, nature center and daycare

UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) - A nationwide hoax involving email bomb threats caused mass evacuations at schools, hospitals, courthouses and businesses all around the country Thursday. The threats may be bogus, but don't tell that to the people who went through real-time fear after scammers promised to blow up a bomb at various locations if they didn't get paid. At least two local colleges, a nature center and even a daycare center were on the receiving end of that threat. The threat several Child Focus employees got in their email demanded $20,000 paid in bitcoins. It even went as far as to say they were being watched. This email came just after 1 p.m. "That basically said that there was someone here with a bomb and that they would detonate it if we did not pay a ransom fee," said Tara Keith of Child Focus. A text alert went out to parents right after. Mom Kristen Jones says she was scrambling for answers. "The panic level that you feel as a parent is just out of this world; you are so far from your children, you're working and you trust that they're going to be OK because they're at school and the culture now is that they're not. They're really not OK," said Jones. The daycare called police, who told them to evacuate, so they took the kids to the Kroger and a health center across the street. "It was a lot of trouble. It was during our nap time for our infants and toddlers, and it was a terrible person who did it," said Keith. Major Mike Hartzler runs the Fusion Center, which works to prevent potential attacks. He says the daycare did the right thing. "They should always, whether it's going on across the county or whether it's happening...in our own area -- it doesn't matter -- in this day in age, we need to do what we have to do," said Hartzler. The same threat went to the Cincinnati Nature Center, Mount St. Joseph University and Wilmington College's Blue Ash campus. "It consumes a considerable amount of time and effort," Jones is thankful and relieved her 3-year-old is home safe. "If there was a danger, my child was quickly ushered away from that danger, and that, to me, is really all that matters in the long run," she said. Hartzler says he does not remember a mass threat like this for a while. Luckily, Child Focus and everywhere else is safe. If you get a threat, save every part for police and call the Fusion hotline at 513-263-8000.