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He went to prison for a school threat. His message to copycats -- Don't do it

He says he made the threat as a joke, but he ended up spending time in prison. Now he fears the same will happen to those who repeat his mistake.
Kyle Parramore, left, served time in prison for making a school threat.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Four years ago, Kyle Parramore’s mugshot was plastered all over the news after he called in a school threat.

The former Wiregrass Ranch High School student was sentenced to four years, 11 months in prison for posting a threat to shoot up two schools in Ironston, Ohio, a town he picked randomly on the map.

“I had just dropped out of school and I was very involved with drinking,” said Parramore, now 27. “I was drinking between five and six times a week just getting hammered.”

Parramore, who is speaking out in light of recent copycat threats being made at schools across the country, wants other young people to think before making a decision that could affect the rest of their lives.

“I thought, 'Oh, this is going to be really funny. Nothing’s going to happen to me,'” recalls Parramore.

“It’s really not. When you go to prison with a four year, 11-month sentence … actually when the handcuffs go on your wrist, things become not funny very, very quickly.”

Parramore says he never had any intention of carrying out his threat. He had no way to get to Ohio and didn’t even own a gun. But that didn’t stop the FBI from showing up at his job a week later at USF.

“There was a knock on the door in the room we were in. All of a sudden it was USF police and it became very, very real. The lead officer had the taser and the rest had assault rifles,” recalls Parramore.

“I quickly confessed, 'Hey this might have been me.' I was crying and stuff. I thought this is the end of my life. I’m going to prison for a very long time.”

Parramore was released in November of last year after serving two years in prison and remains on probation, unable to leave Pasco County without special permission from his probation officer.

He says when he hears about kids posting fake threats online, he worries for their future over something so senseless.

“It breaks my heart beyond belief. Being a convicted felon now is going to be very hard. It’s going to be very hard to get loans, it’s hard to become an adult, to get a job, to go back to school. Not to mention, you’re in prison with people who’ve committed hard crimes who might prey on a kid."

But it’s not just about the impact on his life. Parramore deeply regrets the fear and anxiety caused at the schools in Ohio and worries about the time wasted by law enforcement sent in to keep the schools safe.

“That’s the real unfortunate part. When these fake threats are made, it ties up resources and investigation into actual threats that are made.”

He wonders if the FBI missed the tip on Nikolas Cruz because they were tied up looking into fake threats.

“It has to be talked about,” said Parramore. “This is happening too often and I don’t think people understand the consequences of making these fake threats because they’re not a joke. Prison is not a joke. This is something you should not do.”

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