AR Father accuses school officials of coercing son to confess to making threats against school

WYNNE, Ark. — A family says a 13-year-old Arkansas student has been arrested for making online threats about a school.

However, his family claims he was forced to confess to something he didn’t do.

The father of the 13-year-old said his son didn’t make the school threat, he only shared a screenshot he found online.

“I want to see justice behind everything that everybody has done against him,” his father said. “Accusing him (and) making him write out a statement and kidnapping him and taking him elsewhere.”

The father asked WREG not to use his name but said that his 13-year-old son, an Arkansas student, was arrested and taken from school after a social media threat was made against Wynne Junior High School Friday.

However, his family said he’s innocent and was coerced into confessing.

The father said Wynne Police showed up at their home. He claims that officers said they didn’t find what they looking for.

“Friday at 1 a.m. in the morning, they went through his phone and didn’t find anything,” he said. “But they stated to us that they were looking for a tablet. I told him my son doesn’t own a tablet. He has an iPhone.”

Later that day, the boy attended school and his father received a frantic phone call.

“My boss called me and said the school contacted him and said I needed to go to school asap,” he said.

When he arrived at the school, he was asked to sign over custody of his son to the police.

He refused.

When he arrived with the teen’s mother, the principal said their son was no longer there and had confessed to the post.

But his family claims the boy can’t write well enough to have written the confession statement.

“They made him write the letter,” he said. “The three officials that were in the office at the school made him write it and they told him if he didn’t cooperate, his brother would be charged.”

Now, the father said they’ve been denied access to their son for the last 72 hours.

WREG asked the Wynne School District about the claims.

“The matter is being by law enforcement and there’s no immediate danger,” the District said in a statement.

WREG reached out to the Wynne Police who the father said made the arrest and the Craighead County Juvenile Detention where the father said his son is being held.

They both refused to comment.

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