A 16-year-old girl and student at Pella Community High School who posted a Facebook bomb threat against her school has been charged with a felony.
The student posted the bomb threat on her Facebook page, promising to blow up her school in Pella, Iowa.
According to law enforcement, the teenager wrote on her Facebook page that she had planeted the device to target a specific teacher.
Following the Facebook message the teen was charged with threat of arson.
Pella Community High School principal Eric Nelson tells the Associated Press that the threat was “not considered viable.” The unnamed study is now be held at a juvenile detention facility.
Following the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, law enforcement officers and teachers have been on high alert against threats. Even threats “not considered viable” are resulting in arrests and further investigations.
Since Sandy Hook schools in Stuebenville, Ohio were put on lockdown after a January threat, and a college student was expelled in response to their threat to slit a teacher’s throat.
This is not the first time a Facebook post has resulted in immediate police action. A teen’s house was visited earlier in the month after a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 .22 caliber rifle was posted as a birthday present on their personal FB page.
Bomb threats have always been taken seriously, even when the student appeared to be joking about their violent thoughts. However, with Facebook becoming a vocal platform for young users, those threats are now appearing en masse and bringing with them punishments.
Idle threats or not, the simple fact is that threats are threats, regardless of their actual intention. People need to remember that what happens on Facebook doesn’t necessarily stay on Facebook.
Do you think the 16-year-old student deserves to face a felony charge for her Facebook post, or did law enforcement take her words too far?