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Facebook Threat Gets NJ Girl, 14, Arrested

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on January 06, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Police in New Jersey arrested a 14-year-old girl in connection with posting a Facebook threat about plotting an attack at her high school.

The girl allegedly posted a message on her Facebook wall that asked for help in attacking Ramapo High School in Bergen County, N.J., New York's WNBC-TV reports.

Someone saw the girl's post and told a teacher, who then contacted authorities. Police arrested the girl, whose identity was not disclosed, at her home in nearby Wyckoff.

The girl's Facebook threat read, "I'm going to launch a terrorist attack on Ramapo High School. Hit me up if you want to join me," Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox told WNBC. "That comment is a terroristic threat comment," Fox said.

The girl faces one charge of making a "terroristic threat," a misdemeanor in New Jersey. The crime requires a threat to commit any act of violence with the intent to terrorize, or "in reckless disregard of the risk of causing" terror or inconvenience.

The girl told investigators she had no intention to cause harm with her Facebook threat, CBS News reports. But police seem to be focusing on the "reckless disregard" part of the statute.

"You absolutely cannot be posting something that is going to potentially terrorize people by their simply reading it and being concerned about showing up at high school," Chief Fox told CBS.

The girl acted alone, and no other students were arrested, Fox said.

The school district's superintendent told parents in an email the district "has taken the appropriate actions and precautions," adding there was "no perceived danger at this time" stemming from the girl's Facebook threat.

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