Pella, IA – Telling you that threatening to blow up a school on Facebook shouldn’t qualify as a protip, but it would have saved one 16-year-old from facing felony charges if it were.
Law enforcement officials say that a 16-year-old teen was charged with threat of arson after she wrote an alleged plan to plant an explosive device at an Iowa school, targeting a specific staff or faculty member, on Facebook. Though the threat was taken seriously, Pella Community High School principal Eric Nelson said that it was “not considered viable,” meaning that the girl was probably just blowing off steam on her Facebook wall.
But, you know how it goes. Even if you’re not serious or even capable, threatening President Obama’s life online will always net you a visit from the Secret Service.
Don’t forget that the recent wave of extreme violence in U.S. schools has everyone a little bit on edge these days.
A number of schools have suspended or punished kids for brandishing Lego or paper guns in recent months, and bigger threats get bigger responses. Take the recent lockdown of schools in Steubenville, Ohio, for instance. In January, a student’s shooting threat shut area schools down temporarily.
In Wisconsin, a teenager was arrested due to a YouTube video that allegedly depicted the deaths of other students.
A college student was expelled and charged over an apparent threat to cut a professor’s throat, which he claimed was just in the spirit of “entertainment.”
These might have all been jokes or empty threats, but it doesn’t matter these days. School and law enforcement officials are taking chances anymore, and here’s a little protip for you after all: They know social networks exist. They monitor them constantly.
Be careful what you post!
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