Timothy R. England

WARSAW — A call of a bomb threat at an area business, done as a joke on a buddy, has resulted in a 25-year-old having a felony conviction on his otherwise clean record.

“I cannot for the life of me figure what Made you do something like this. I don’t see anything humorous about this. You had no criminal history until this. You do now and it will follow you,” said Kosciusko Superior 1 Court Judge David Cates, before giving Timothy Ryan England, 25, 1324 N. Copeland St., Warsaw, his sentence. “I don’t see the humor in it and I hope you don’t either.”

Cates sentenced England to one year in the county jail, but suspended that sentence for probation.

While there was no harm to individuals, Christianne Hampton, deputy prosecuting attorney, noted there was a loss of resources to the business and responding emergency agencies. No request for restitution was requested.

England was arrested on a charge of false reporting, a level 6 felony, in April, after it was determined that he made a telephone call to Zimmer, Inc., around 3:02 a.m. April 13, stating there was a bomb in the building. Emergency personnel arrived and removed all employees from the building, while the building was checked for explosives.

Zimmer personnel were able to determine the threat was made from an internal phone. It was determined two individuals, including England, were in that area at that time. England admitted he used a phone app to record the message, and then used a phone near his workstation to call another phone inside the building. he played the message he had recorded to the individual who answered the phone before hanging up.

A level 6 felony calls for a sentence between six months to 2 1/2 years. However, England entered a plea agreement on Sept. 24, calling for any sentence over one year be served on probation. The judge does have the discretion to suspend the entire sentence