9-year-old faces felony charge for alleged threat to school
The Middletown student is accused of making shooting threat via Snapchat.
After a week of threats against school in the region, including three at Middletown City Schools, a 9-year-old student is facing a felony charge of induct- ing panic.
The boy was taken into to the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center on Tuesday following a Mid- dletown police investiga- tion and charged in juvenile court wi h a second-de- gree felony.
According to a court document obtained by the Journal-News, detec- tives say the boy sent a threatening Snapchat mes- sage through a fifth grade group chat.
“(The) child said there was going to be a shoot- ing at Middletown City Schools, specifically nam- ing Creekview Elemen- tary, Highview, Middle- town High School and May- field,” said Detective Gary Bender in the complaint.
The detective said the boy admitted to creating a fake Snapchat account and making the threats.
“He stated he wanted to see what kind of reaction he’d get,” Bender said in the complaint.
The boy remains housed in the juvenile detention following a hearing before a magistrate on Wednes- day. He is scheduled for a pretrial hearing Sept. 20 before Judge Daniel Phil- lips. A forensic evaluation was also ordered.
Following Tuesday’s threat and arrest, Debo- rah Houser, school district superintendent posted via social media that the district was made aware of the threat and “immedi- ately collaborated with the Middletown Division of Police, and after a thorough investigation, a stu- dent is now facing charges in connection with this incident. Please know the safety of our students and staff remains our top pri- ority.”
On Thursday, Houser said, also in a social media post: “This morning, Mid- dletown City School Dis- trict was made aware of a social media threat made towards Middletown Mid- dle School. This is the third threat involving MCSD in the last three days, and we understand the concern this creates for our students, staff, and com- munity.”
Houser said every threat is taken seriously and the district has a zero-toler- ance policy for threats of violence.
“It is important to note that these threats have been created and shared while students are not in school. We strongly urge all parents to speak with their children about the responsible use of social media and the serious consequences of shar- ing or reposting threat- ening messages. Students involved in creating, shar- ing, or reposting threats will face significant dis- ciplinary action, includ- ing legal consequences.” Houser said.
Middletown Police Sgt. Sam Allen said the other threats remain under inves- tigation, but pointed to the school shooting in on Sept. 4 in Georgia and the anni- versary of 9/11 as a time when people are being “extra cautious”
“The unfortunate thing is anytime things like this happen you have some message that are screen shot and sent around and they end of everywhere,” Allen said.
“And so we are probably seeing some of the same ones other people are, so I think all the school dis- trict and police agencies are just handling them how the individually see is the best way to handle them,” he said.
He said investigation of threats is a coordinated effort with the schools, the department and school resource officers and their sources.
“Sometimes you can prove or disprove something pretty quick and then other times it’s trying to work backwards, and sometimes you never get to the start of it,” Allen said.
“Unfortunately anytime things like this come up, it creates panic for parents, it creates situations that are tough for the schools to have to deal with and it takes a large number of officers away from departments and their sole focus is on ensuring the safety of the students and the staff.”