Three Arrested for their involvement in Threats to the Paoli Schools
Three Arrested for their involvement in Threats to the Paoli
Schools
Orange County: On Thursday, January 25,
2018, around 5:00 p.m., law enforcement
was made aware of a post on a social media account that threatened to do harm
to local schools. The Indiana State Police, Orange County
Sheriff’s Office, and Paoli Police Department immediately began to investigate
the origin and validity of the of the threat.
Later in the evening of January 25th
a second post appearing to be from the same site was posted.
The Paoli School Corporation was informed of the findings and later decided, for the safety
of all involved, to cancel school this past Friday, January 26, 2018.
From the time these threats were reported to law
enforcement, investigators have been working diligently to determine who was responsible for these criminal
acts. The result of thorough
investigative efforts, detectives developed probable cause to
arrest three juveniles, ages 16, 17 and 17 for their alleged roles in posting the
threats. All three juveniles were taken into custody earlier this afternoon in Paoli, and were transported
to a juvenile detention center. Each juvenile is being
charged with Intimidation, a Level 6 Felony.
While the state police will not comment on specifics of how
this crime was solved and what social media
apps were used to communicate these threats, the clear message is these crimes are vigorously
investigated and are not treated as pranks. Engaging in communication of
‘anonymous’ threats can have lifelong consequences for people arrested and
prosecuted for such crimes. And as demonstrated by this investigation,
nothing on the Internet is ever truly ‘anonymous.’
Assisting Agencies: Orange County Sheriff’s Office and Paoli
Police Department
Persons arrested for alleged criminal
acts are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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