A former Crawford County Substitute Teacher has been sentenced to 10 months in federal prison. According to court documents, 35-year-old Mary Fortner will serve her sentence after pleading guilty to two counts of making hoax bomb threats after sending these threats to a newspaper as well as a school where she was a teacher.
Court documents state that on January 19 of this year, Fortner sent a bomb threat to Milltown, Indiana police officers using an anonymous messaging app. This threat directly targeted the Milltown Elementary School in Crawford County where Fortner was employed as a substitute teacher. That very day, FBI agents and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Departments interviewed Fortner at her home and executed a search warrant that included her cellphone and other devices. During multiple interviews, Fortner denied any knowledge of the bomb threat.
On February 21, 2023, Fortner sent an email to the Corydon Democrat, a local news outlet in Corydon, Indiana, again threatening to bomb a list of several addresses, including Milltown Elementary School in Milltown, Indiana, and the Corydon Cinemas. Later that evening, the HCSD executed a search warrant at the Fortner’s residence and took her into custody. The FBI determined that the threat came from a mobile device that had been factory reset in an attempt to conceal the crime.
The Crawford County Sheriff’s Department would like to thank all the departments involved in resolving this case.,” said Crawford County Sheriff, Jeff Howell. “School safety should be a high priority for all agencies. Our nation’s youth is our greatest treasure. A special thanks to the Assistant U.S. Attorneys and federal agencies for their work ensuring that justice was served.”
Mary Fortner will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for three years following her release from federal prison with the first two months being served on home detention. This case was jointly worked on and investigated by the FBI, Crawford and Harrison County Sheriff’s Departments, and the Milltown Police Department.
