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Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.
PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Carrie Horstman, Brian Bruchey, and Julianna Rivera. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.
The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.
Sep 16, 2025
Sophomore arrested for phone threats to two Polk County schools
Media Contact: Brian Bruchey
The School Threat Assessment Team (STAT) at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested a sophomore from Winter Haven High School on Monday, September 15, 2025, after his school and Auburndale High School received phone calls regarding firearms on those campuses.
Auburndale High School received a call at 11:05 am, in which a male said that he was hearing voices in his head, he was in a school restroom with an AK-47, and “You need to find me before I go into a classroom and take hostages.”
At about 11:11 am, Winter Haven High School received a call from a male who said that he had a rifle and planned on “shooting-up the school at some point today.”
STAT detectives immediately began investigating both calls and found that they were made from the same phone number, which was determined to belong to a Lake Alfred woman whose son attends Winter Haven High School.
Detectives met with the student and his mother at their home.
When faced with the details of the calls, 16-year old Blake Maynard responded by insinuating that his stepfather made the calls.
The detectives determined that Blake Maynard made the phone calls and he was arrested.
“Phone calls like this aren’t funny… they’re not pranks, nor jokes. To the contrary, we are going to take each and every one of these type of calls seriously. And you can bet that anybody stupid enough to fool around like this is going to find out when we charge them with very serious criminal charges.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff
Maynard was transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center in Bartow and charged with: False Report of Weapon of Mass Destruction (F2, 2-counts), Use of 2-way Communication Device in Commission of a Felony (F3, 2-counts), and Providing False Information to Law Enforcement during an Investigation (F3).