Updated at 5:19 p.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The Secret Service was in Lewis County yesterday investigating a threat against the president.
Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Rob Snaza said a phone call was made about three weeks ago to a cell phone with a Washington state phone number belonging to a person who lives in Washington D.C.
Snaza said deputies worked with the federal agents yesterday locally to track down the phone that made the call. He described the content only as “statements made, with comments against the president.”
“We found it was juveniles who made a prank phone call,” Snaza said. From Napavine, he said.
Snaza released few details, other than the two boys live in the Napavine and Chehalis areas.
He said the case was turned over to the United States Secret Service [1], who had a talk with the youngsters. He said he didn’t believe they would be going to jail.
“I think they learned their lesson,” Snaza said.
Assistant Special Agent Bob Kierstead, at the Seattle field office of the Secret Service, confirmed this afternoon it didn’t appear any federal charges would come out of the case.
“Typically we don’t release a lot of information on ‘protective intelligence’ cases,” Kierstead said. “The Secret Service takes every threat seriously and we investigate every threat.”
He would not reveal the content of the phone call.
The federal law enforcement agency, besides its original mission as investigators of counterfeit currency, provides protection to the president, the vice president and certain other persons. It also has a electronic financial crimes task force, Kierstead said.
Asked if information about the phone call came through the previously secret gathering by federal authorities of millions of Americans phone records for national security, Kierstead said he can’t speak a lot about investigative techniques.
“It was pretty routine,” he said.
The information came from a private citizen to law enforcement who then contacted the Secret Service, he said. Snaza revealed the recipient of the call was a woman who has a spouse in the military.
Kierstead also declined to share how many threats against the president the agency investigates in a year.