Senecan sent to prison for threats

A Seneca woman pleaded guilty today to making nearly 30 telephoned bomb threats. Melissa Ann Griggs was sent to prison for three years, after being sentenced in the Oconee General Sessions Court. The plea and sentence today put an end to a case that, at the start of 2013, had the Seneca and Clemson areas on edge because of a series of telephoned threats to schools and businesses. And it was case to which local law enforcement turned to SLED and the FBI to stop the threats and to catch the caller. No bombs were found, but the affected schools and businesses required temporary evacuations while searches were conducted. Griggs’ attorney, Public Defender Wilson Burr, said there was no clear explanation for what his client did. The sentence, as handed down by Judge Larry Hyman Jr, of Conway, required Griggs to serve 10 years in prison, suspended to three years, to be followed by five years probation. At the time of her arrest last winter, Griggs was 38 years old.