Berwick man pleads guilty to making online threats to Portsmouth High School

CONCORD - A Maine man pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to charges in connection to the online threats made to Portsmouth High School on April 12.

Kyle Hendrickson, 25, of Berwick, Maine, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate threatening communications and one count of possessing a firearm in a school zone. U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot scheduled sentencing for March 15. Hendrickson was initially arrested on a criminal complaint on April 13 and a grand jury returned the two-count indictment on Sept. 13.

Hendrickson posted a video to his SnapChat account on April 12 in which he brandished a handgun while in a vehicle outside of the Portsmouth High School. The video included a text overlay that reads "imma shoot up the school."

School surveillance footage placed Hendrickson's vehicle outside the high school at the time of the video. According to a statement sent Monday from the U.S. Attorneys Office, law enforcement officers later recovered an AR-15 rifle, a shotgun, camouflage body armor, a handgun holster, a red-dot sight, and numerous rounds of ammunition from Hendrickson's vehicle.

The handgun that Hendrickson used in the SnapChat video was also recovered near a motel where Hendrickson had stayed in Maine on April 12.

Each charge provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

The FBI Boston Division, and the Portsmouth Police Department led the investigation. The ATF and Explosives, the Somersworth Police Department, the Portland (Maine) Police Department, and the Berwick (Maine) Police Department provided valuable assistance.