Soldier charged in Sedalia high school incident

SEDALIA — The Pettis County prosecutor has charged a soldier who had been reported missing from Fort Leonard Wood with making a terrorist threat at a Sedalia high school.

Pettis County Sheriff Kevin Bond said 19-year-old Michael John Frederick of Kansas City was charged Thursday after being arrested in Excelsior Springs.

Prosecutors allege that Frederick went to Smith-Cotton High School on Saturday night during a senior dinner fundraiser. He allegedly told an assistant superintendent that the Army had told him to warn all schools in the area about six escaped convicts that might be coming to the school to kidnap or hold students hostage.

He drove away from the school. The report of escaped prisoners was not true.

Army officials said Fredrick had been reported as AWOL from the fort.