Man pleads in wrong Ottawa case

OTTAWA — A 20-year-old Akron man pleaded guilty Monday to charges of making threats against Ottawa, although it was the wrong Ottawa and the wrong country.

Miles Black pleaded guilty to making false alarms, a third-degree felony, and making false alarms, a misdemeanor, in connection to calling in a bomb threat Feb. 7. Black called the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Ottawa, saying he was going to set off a bomb for an address in Ottawa, Canada, thinking he was calling Canadian officials.

Protests had erupted at the time protesting a vaccine mandate for truckers crossing the U.S.-Canadian border. Convoys arrived in the Canadian capital in late January to protest the mandate and other pandemic restrictions.

According to the indictment, on Feb. 7, Black “did initiate or circulate a report or warning of an alleged or impeding fire, explosion, crime or other catastrophe, knowing that the report or warning was false and likely to cause public inconvenience or harm.”

The indictment reads that Black threatened to use a bomb, “a weapon of mass destruction, in Putnam County, Ohio, to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.”

The second count alleges that Black of making a false report to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office that he had been stabbed in Putnam County, Ohio.

According to sheriff’s office reports, while deputies were attempting to trace the first call, Black called back again, saying he had been shot. It was then, after the first call had been fully traced, that the dispatcher let him know he had the wrong Ottawa.

When Black found out he was talking to Ohio officials and not Canadian ones, he admitted he had not been shot but was trying to waste Canadian authorities’ time and resources because he did not agree with their mask mandate.

Sentencing on the matter before Putnam County Common Pleas Judge Keith Schierloh was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Aug. 11.