Man in custody in connection with school threats

A California man who allegedly made threats against a Sonoma County elementary school is in Douglas County custody after investigators tracked him down in Stateline on Tuesday.

Sheriff’s deputies and South Lake Tahoe police officers found a vehicle reported stolen associated with Santa Rosa, Calif., resident Kevin Harrington in the parking lot of Harrahs.

Hotel security helped located Harrington milling about a hotel room at Harvey’s in Stateline.

He was taken into custody without incident.

“This arrest was made possible due to the cooperation with multiple agencies to ensure the safety of the both the communities as these types of incidents are a priority to Sheriff Dan Coverley,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Harrington, 47, is being held on Nevada charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle and a felony warrant for his arrest out of Sonoma County for the threats made on the school.

According to Sonoma County, Penngrove Elementary received a threat at 11:36 a.m. Monday.

The school was placed on lock-down and Sonoma County respondd with deputies, detectives, dogs, a helicopter and a Special Weapons and Tactics team.

“In evaluating the situation, the decision was made to evacuate the school to ensure the safety of the children and staff,” according to Sonoma County officials. “Once the school was locked down and the school campus was determined to be safe, the process of evacuating students was systematically started. Classroom by classroom, students and staff were evacuated by bus with a deputy escort to the reunification point at Rancho Adobe Fire’s Penngrove station.” 

After identifying that Harrington was possibly involved and was at Lake Tahoe, Sonoma County detectives contacted Douglas and South Sonoma detectives responded to Douglas County to continue their investigation and gather further evidence.

Harrington was booked into the Douglas County Jail for felony criminal threats and possession of a stolen vehicle. Harrington is being held on $500,000 bail and is currently waiting to be extradited to Sonoma County.