Publication Date: Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Boy arrested for threatening e-mails
Boy arrested for threatening e-mails
(November 09, 2005) Recipients were apparently picked at random
by Don Kazak and Alexandria Rocha
A Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School student was arrested Thursday night for allegedly threatening an entire class of students and a teacher at Terman Middle School in e-mails the suspect sent Wednesday from his home computer, according to police.
The 12-year-old boy apparently did not know any of the students or the teacher he threatened, said Palo Alto Juvenile Detective Mariana Villaescusa. He apparently found their school e-mail addresses through Terman's Web site, she said.
The name of the boy and victims are not being released.
"The teacher was extremely afraid. She wants to remain anonymous," said Villaescusa, adding that the teacher did return to work today to be there for her students.
Police are not releasing the content of the two e-mails, which were sent from the boy's home computer around 5 p.m. Wednesday.
However, according to a letter sent home to Terman families Thursday, the first e-mail expressed "love and affection" and the second contained "profanity and a threat of violence to Terman."
Villaescusa would not elaborate on the actual threat, but she did say it was a "threat to cause harm" and that it likely "wasn't credible."
The boy sent the e-mails to 23 students and the teacher, however only three students saw the messages, as the others had not set up their school e-mail accounts yet.
"This is a pretty serious crime," Villaescusa said.
This story first appeared Thursday on www.PaloAltoOnline.com.
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