Carthage man placed on probation for calling bomb threat to Webb City High School to keep friend from getting traffic ticket

Under a plea bargain agreement, Robert Lee Ritter, 43, Carthage, was sentenced Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court to four years in prison, then placed on supervised probation for five years on a felony charge of making a false bomb report.

The Highway Patrol arrested Ritter after he called in a bomb threat to Webb City High School to keep a friend from getting a traffic ticket. Ritter was a passenger in the vehicle.

A charge of hindering prosecution was dropped earlier.