Certain legal terms are used in a juvenile case that would not be used in an adult criminal case. Juveniles’ name will not be used in this story. Click here for a list of these terms.
Charges against several Stanislaus County minors were filed related to the spate of local and nationwide threats of school violence.
Details about the minors’ cases cannot be released because California law protects them. However, authorities said seven juveniles were detained — 12 years old and the oldest 17.
“While these school shooting and bomb hoaxes may appear harmless on the surface, law enforcement and my office take them very seriously,” reads a statement from District Attorney Jeff Laugero. “The District Attorney’s Office is actively working with law enforcement to ensure we have all the facts in each case to fully understand what happened and hold those involved accountable for the disruption and fear their illegal behavior caused.”
Three arrests of Modesto-area teens were previously reported on by The Bee. However, the Sheriff’s Office said a countywide task force made a total of seven arrests related to threats of school violence in the past two weeks.
The DA’s Office confirmed a fourth arrest of a minor in connection with threats made against a school in Denair. The fifth, sixth and seventh arrests were confirmed by the Sheriff’s Office, but information regarding them was limited.
Sgt. Veronica Esquivez with the Sheriff’s Office said the arrests were made through the countywide task force made up of multiple agencies. Because the accused juveniles are from all over the county, and some of the threats involved multiple schools, it became convoluted. No single agency, so far as The Bee can tell, released a press statement announcing the four additional arrests.
Information about the other minors referenced had not been released by the DA’s Office as of Thursday afternoon.
Once charged, juveniles receive detention hearings, in which a judge will decide their release status. This could be confinement in juvenile hall, home detention with or without an ankle monitor, or general release into the custody of their parents.
“Any threat of violence in our schools is a threat to our entire community,” Laugero’s statement reads. “I want to send a clear message that this office will pursue every legal means to address these situations quickly and efficiently.”
He added that he believes parents should “have confidence when they send their children to school that their children are safe.”
DA’s Office spokespersonWendell Emerson warned that law enforcement has the ability to track down virtually anybody who makes a threat against a school.
“A common theme amongst these kids making online threats targeting schools is they assume they cannot be identified. There is no such thing as anonymity online. Everything you do online leaves a digital fingerprint. ... It is not a coincidence that almost every one of the school threats made during the recent spike led to an arrest of a suspect,” Emerson wrote in a statement.
The DA’s Office said it believes the threats appear to be part of a nationwide viral social media trend that began Friday, Sept. 13.
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