
Inset: Brandie Covington (Brevard County Sheriff's Office). Background: Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Florida (Google Maps).
A woman is accused of threatening to "burn" a Florida high school down because her daughter's boyfriend did not get his school-supplied lunch.
Brandie Covington, 40, has been charged with threatening to discharge a destructive device, according to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime. The alleged crime occurred on Tuesday morning, after the school day had gotten well underway.
At about 10:50 a.m., a woman called the cafeteria at Rockledge High School in Rockledge, Florida, and an employee picked up. The woman on the other end of the line â later revealed to be Covington â "was irate because her daughter's boyfriend had his school supplied lunch taken away from him, due to lack of funds in his account," the affidavit states.
The employee said she tried to explain how the school handles situations when a student runs out of lunch funds, but the suspect "began to yell and cuss at her." Though the employee continued to try and "calm the situation," Covington reportedly elevated her rhetoric.
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"Covington threatened her with 'burning the school down,'" the court document states, with the suspect allegedly soon after adding, "I'll be over there to blow that fâ school up."
The cafeteria employee hung up the phone and told the school's resource officer about the threat, authorities say.
Not five minutes had passed when Covington allegedly made another threatening call, this time to the vice principal.
The woman "identified herself as Covington" and stated, once again, that she "was upset that her daughter's boyfriend did not get his lunch one day due to the lack of funds in his account," according to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office.
The school official reportedly told the mother he could not talk about the situation given she was not related to the student, though he did try to explain the school's process in such situations, as the cafeteria employee did. Once again, Covington was allegedly not pleased.
"Covington began to cuss and scream at him and stated several times that she would burn the school down, before she hung up the phone," the affidavit reads.
The school resource officer was notified again.
About three hours later, investigators showed up at the woman's home. After being read her Miranda rights, she "acknowledged the two (2) phone calls she made to Rockledge High School earlier this morning regarding her daughter's boyfriend's lunch being taken away from him by cafeteria personnel," deputies said.
Covington allegedly "acknowledged she was 'pissed' when she made both calls" because last week she had called and was told a school employee would call her back, but they never did.
Investigators said her statement was "mostly consistent" with what the cafeteria worker and vice principal said happened, but Covington "denied making any kind of threat" against the school.
The defendant was subsequently arrested and booked in the Brevard County Jail.
She was released on Thursday on a bond of $75,000, according to Orlando-based CBS affiliate WKMG.