FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A former teacher’s assistant for Broward County Public Schools is facing multiple felony charges for making threats to a number of schools the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday.
It comes a week after BSO deputies and Sunrise police officers arrested Jayson Arlon Richardson, 42, during a traffic stop near his home in Sunrise.
According to an arrest warrant, the investigation began on Nov. 18 when BSO received “five consecutive bomb threats” through the FortifyFL crime tip application, targeting Deerfield Beach Elementary School, North Fork Elementary School, Dillard Elementary School and Plantation Middle School. Each tip, deputies said, referenced a particular time and place a bomb would be on each campus on Nov. 20.
That threat, authorities said, was made at a computer at the Delray Beach Public Library.
The warrant states that authorities had received threats concerning Dillard and North Fork elementary schools before. On March 15, deputies said Dillard received a bomb threat stating, “Bomb on the school bus at exit time...the neo nazi check the gates it will happen.”
The warrant states school’s principal later suspected it was a terminated employee making the threats: Richardson.
Deputies said Richardson had been fired from North Fork Elementary School, located at 101 NW 15th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale, in November 2022. Dillard’s principal had been in charge of North Fork at the time and was involved in his firing.
The warrant states that during the second week of November 2023, BCPS “accidentally hired” Richardson again — this time at Deerfield Beach Elementary School — before firing him the same day after realizing he had been fired from North Fork.
It also states that Richardson had been on the radar of Fort Lauderdale police dating back to a June 1 incident where he made a series of bizarre — but non-threatening — crime tips regarding Dillard and North Fork.
Deputies said Richardson, using FortifyFL from the Tamarac Public Library, sent the following: “What are the characteristics of a female predator? The traits and behaviors that stood out for females include impulsivity, lack of behavioral controls, sexual promiscuity, criminal diversity, deceitfulness, and lack of realistic goals.”
It appears the strange message was lifted from an online blog post.
Authorities said Richardson would send in more threats on FortifyFL on Dec. 13, targeting Dillard, North Fork and Deerfield Beach elementary schools.
The threats were a link to a YouTube Short video of a man felling a tree with an AK-47-style rifle, the warrant states. The threat message to Deerfield Beach Elementary School included the statement “5PM 12/13/2023 FEARLESS LEADER.”
Deputies said those threats were sent from the Broward County Main Library at 100 S. Andrews Ave. in Fort Lauderdale and authorities identified Richardson as the suspect.
Richardson remained behind bars Thursday on five counts of making a false bomb threat and three counts of written threats to kill or injure.
According to jail records, he was being held on in BSO’s Paul Rein Detention Facility in Pompano Beach on a $1.6 million bond.