A Washington High School student has been arrested and charged with a March 8 bomb threat.

Jarwone Jermaine Johnson, 16, of Blount Drive, was charged with felony false bomb report on a public building, misdemeanor injury to real property and misdemeanor disorderly conduct on March 16. The injury to real property charge stems from a threat written in permanent marker on one of the school’s bathroom walls, while the disorderly conduct charge is in response to the overall disruption caused by the threat, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charlie Rose.

The March 8 bomb threat drove students from school for several hours and spurred a mass response from the sheriff’s office, Washington Police and Fire Services, North Carolina Highway Patrol, Beaufort County Emergency Management and more while the school, outbuildings and buses were all searched, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.

“Every threat that comes out, no matter how inconceivable as it may seem, has to be treated as a legitimate threat,” Rose said. “The response has to be quick and it has to be prudent, and that’s a lot of time, effort, resources, money, and it also completely affects a school. So it’s very serious every single time an incident like that happens.”

Rose said some departments, frustrated with the amount of resources continually spent on, and tied up with, false threats, have started using other measures to recoup those losses.

“Some places around the country will actually charge the parents. If there’s a response like that, the parents will actually get a bill,” Rose said.

Rose said there’s no plan for Beaufort County to bill parents for law enforcement response to bomb threats right now.

Johnson was issued a $25,000 unsecured bond and admitted to the Beaufort County Detention Center, the release stated. Rose said based on investigation, the bomb threat seemed to be out of character for Johnson.

“When you talk to the staff and the teachers (who’ve been) around him, he doesn’t seem to be a bad kid,” Rose said.