Suspect In Custody After Threats Made Against Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Dodge County

A juvenile suspect is in custody after threats were made toward
two separate elders of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Dodge County
Sunday morning.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office says the two elders
received threatening text messages just after 9 am Sunday while they were at
home. The threats indicated the meeting and congregation were “going to be
blown up today”. The threats were sent from a “spoofed” number, which prevents
direct contact or identification of the sender of the threats. Through the
investigation, authorities were able to determine the device used to make the
threats – and eventually the suspect.

No explosives were found inside the Kingdom Hall in the
Town of Beaver Dam during a search by a dog trained in detecting explosives. Sheriff’s
officials say the two people who received threats are involved in the Spanish language
meetings that are held at that location; however, the threats were determined
to not be hate crimes directed towards any religion or ethnicity. Charges against
the suspect will be filed in juvenile court in their county of residence.
Information about where that is was not released by the Sheriff’s Office.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, Madison Police
Department, Sun Prairie Police Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice –
Division of Criminal Investigation and the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office
all assisted in the investigation.