Prank calls used to be part of growing up — you’d pick up the receiver on your landline and call a random number to ask if their refrigerator was running.

Yes, they’d say — “Well, then you better go so you can catch it!,” you’d respond.

But one 11 year-old boy in 2024 took the prank calling to an extreme and serious level, and he could now be charged with major adult crimes.

An 11-year-Virginia boy is being charged in Florida with calling in more than 20 bomb or shooting threats to schools and other places, authorities say.

Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly explains that authorities worked hard to find the “swatting” caller before the school year resumes.

“This kid’s behavior was escalating and becoming more dangerous, I’m glad we got him before he escalated out of control and hurt someone,” he says.

“Swatting” is where you call into 911 with an outlandish claim — something like a hostage situation — that is fabricated and give a specific address. The SWAT team is then deployed with other emergency personnel, just to find that it was a false call.

But this kid didn’t just do this once or twice — for him, it was a major crime that spills over multiple state lines: Additional threats were made to a home in Virginia, as well as Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Alaska.

Local deputies searched the boy’s home this month, and the 11-year-old admitted to placing the Florida swatting calls, as well as a threat made to the Maryland State House.

He’s learning that when you commit big boy crimes, you might do big boy time: The boy faces 29 felony counts and 14 misdemeanors. He’s being held in a Virginia juvenile detention facility while Florida officials arrange for his extradition.

When it’s all said and done, this kid will lose more than his iPad — he might be looking at losing his freedom and future.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 130 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today’s top stars, like Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, + more!