WCHS ‘hoax bomb’ student gets one-year suspended sentence

The 18-year-old student charged in a January 27 “hoax bomb” incident at Warren County High School has been sentenced to one year’s supervised probation, with a suspended year in jail minus 18 days served, hanging over his head.

Having turned 18 before the incident, Caleb Sutphin was charged as an adult with a Class 6 felony “manufacture of a hoax explosive device”.  The sentencing range on a Class 6 felony conviction is one to five years in prison.

On June 19 Sutphin plead guilty to a felony charge as part of a plea agreement.  That agreement saw Sutphin sentenced to one year in jail, with credit for the 18 days – January 27 to February 14 – he spent in jail before being released on a $5,000 bond.  The balance of his sentence was then suspended.  However, Judge Clifford L. Athey said Sutphin faces some or all of that suspended sentence should he violate any aspect of his probation.

The 6-foot-3 Sutphin was twice denied bond before his February 14 release from RSW Regional Jail.  In his second bond hearing on February 8, his first with legal counsel, the commonwealth raised the specter of possible mental health issues in arguing against his release.

Images from Caleb Sutphin’s Facebook presence at the time of the January hoax bomb incident: above, a rather malevolent clown; below, down the barrel.

During that second bond hearing Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Layton told the court the prosecution had evidence that Sutphin had “thought about it for some time” before acting on his alleged hoax bomb threat plan resulting in the school’s evacuation; that it was not an act of impulse.

Warren County High School was evacuated shortly after noon on Friday, January 27, after a “suspicious package” was found after a fire alarm was set off at the school.  The initial alarm went out at 12:09 p.m.  The County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged the help of Virginia State Police Explosive Technicians in determining the suspicious package to be “a non-functional hoax device”.

Above, Caleb Sutphin’s RSW Jail mug shot; and a website portrait.

Local authorities also received assistance from K-9 units from both the State and Mount Weather Police Departments in sweeping the school facility and parking lots for additional devices. Faculty and students were cleared to re-enter the school to retrieve possessions at 3:23 p.m. as the school day ended.

Warren County Sheriff’s Office investigators, school resource deputies, and the county fire marshal questioned Sutphin the afternoon of the incident.  He was arrested and charged that day.

In seeking bond on February 8, Sutphin attorney Matthew Beyrau called his client’s mother, Susan.  Mrs. Sutphin testified her son would stay with the family if released and have the support of his eight siblings, including one older sister, aged 20.  Mrs. Sutphin also testified that the 2016-17 school year was her son’s first in public school; and that he had been home-schooled for “the previous 17 years”.  Sutphin entered WCHS in October 2016, about four months prior to the hoax bomb incident.

In denying bond on February 8, Judge John Hart explained, “My decision is that he will continue to be held without bond. I believe there may be substantial mental health concerns that could make the defendant a danger to himself or others.”

Hearing the same arguments six days later, Judge Ronald Napier granted Sutphin bail at $5,000.

Sutphin posted online that these were ‘air-soft’ weapons, not real guns.