15-year-old Monroe County girl sends school threat via group text, arrested: sheriff

OTTAWA LAKE, MICH. (WWJ) A 15-year-old Temperance girl was arrested for threatening her Monroe County high school via group text, the sheriff said.

In a press release; the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said officials from Whiteford Agricultural Schools contacted deputies about a threat of gun violence against the school planned for Monday (9/9). The call came on Saturday (9/7), around noon, from Whiteford Middle/High School on Consear near Sylvania-Petersburg Rd., in Ottawa Lake— about 16 miles northwest of Toledo, Ohio.

According to the sheriff’s office, the girl sent the threat via a group text message chat session to some of her other classmates. A parent of one of those classmates alerted school officials to the threat.

Investigators contacted the suspect and her parents; and seized a small caliber-bolt action rifle from the family’s home. She is being housed at the Monroe County Youth Center.

Her name is being withheld.

“Deputies will continue to work closely with officials from Whiteford Agricultural Schools, as well as the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office,” the press release read. “Sheriff Troy Goodnough and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office continues to take an active role in school safety and a zero tolerance approach to the threat of school violence.”

As a precaution, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office will increase patrols at the school on Monday.

If you have information on this incident, please call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at (734) 240-7530.