On Friday, April 18th, at approximately 4:06 p.m., the Cartersville Police were dispatched to Ryeco, located in the Ashwood Business Park at 83 Peeples Valley Road, in response to a bomb threat.

The initial 911 call indicated that there was an active bomb threat at the location, and attempts to contact an employee had been unsuccessful. Law enforcement officials activated their emergency lights and sirens to respond urgently.

However, Cartersville dispatch later notified police that they had made contact with an employee of the business, no threat was imminent, everyone was okay, and an employee had played a prank on a colleague. Responding units then deactivated their emergency equipment and resumed normal operations.

Upon arriving at the scene, the police made contact inside the business with 49-year-old Karen Rae Poole from Canton. Poole reportedly stated that she had sent a message to her colleague jokingly and had asked them to report a bomb threat at her workplace. Poole reputedly claimed she was joking and did not expect her colleague to take the message seriously.

An officer requested to see the messages, and upon review, they found a conversation between Poole and her colleague on a computer screen. Poole had electronically messaged her colleague at approximately 4:04 p.m., saying, “Can you call in a bomb threat to the school, aka Ryeco? There is no fire alarm for us to pull, help us.” The colleague responded around 4:07 p.m. with, “Calling police now.” Poole reacted to this message by sending a heart emoji. The colleague messaged again at approximately 4:15 p.m., stating, “They are on the way. Please, God, hold tight.” Poole followed up at approximately 4:16 p.m., saying, “This is a joke.” There were approximately 12 minutes between her initial message and her clarification that it was a joke.

When asked to step outside the business, Poole allegedly told the officers, “Have you not ever done this to get out of school as kids?” They subsequently arrested her and took her to the Bartow County Jail.

Karen Poole faces charges of reckless conduct, giving a false report of a crime, and transmitting a false public alarm.