Twitter Threats Get Stow Student in Trouble with Police
High school student charged with telecommunications harassment
A Stow-Munroe Falls High School student is in trouble with the law thanks in part to his Twitter account.
School administrators called Stow Police after discovering a student had tweeted "threatening and berating comments" about a high school teacher, according to a police report.
The student, who is an adult but whose identity is not being published at this time by Stow Patch, was charged with one count of telecommunications harassment, a first-degree misdemeanor.
The severity of the threats, and whether disciplinary action has been taken, is unclear, as Stow-Munroe Falls Schools Superintendent Russell Jones did not respond to a request for comment.
The threatening tweets were apparently sent on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, last month, according to police.
This would not be the first time a student's statements on their Twitter account landed them in hot water in the region.
In August a student at Kent State University was suspended after he posted on Twitter threats that he planned to open fire on the campus.
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Stow-Munroe Falls High School
3227 Graham Rd, Stow, OH -
Stow Safety Center: Police and Fire Departments
3800 Darrow Rd, Stow, OH -
Castor Troy
4:16 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
Wow. What happened to this city?
Nolan
6:25 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
Nothing. So, calm down.
This is hardly a district-only issue. You have adults being just as stupid online everywhere.
James Thomas
11:16 am on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
By the way, NolanJoeHomeownerderpspotterJamesThomasJackKelly,
Have you taken down the Psuedo James Thomas Page you Created?
Castor Troy
7:09 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
I'm perfectly calm. I just find the charge absurd.
It's not stupid to vent your frustrations and anger. That is a healthy process of stress reduction. What's stupid is to bottle up your emotions for fear of social consequences. Those are the type that go insane and shoot up the place.
Unfortunately Stow.Patch doesn't include any details and I'm sure wont follow up in any way. I might be wrong and this student (also an adult) may of completely stepped over the line.
Matt Fredmonsky
8:21 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
The school district responded only to say they would not comment on an individual disciplinary incident. In other words, they won't say if or how the student was penalized academically. I'm still waiting to hear back from Stow Police to see if the threats were severe, such as threatening bodily harm, or merely frustrated ventilations.
Castor Troy
9:27 pm on Monday, March 11, 2013
Appreciate the clarification Matt.
Half of what occurs on the internet can be considered telecommunications harassment by Ohio law. Which simply states
"No person shall make or cause to be made a telecommunication, or permit a telecommunication to be made from a telecommunications device under the person’s control, with purpose to abuse, threaten, or harass another person."
I'm sure more than certain half the comments on this very domain fall under these incredibly vague guidelines. This is a slippery slope people.
Joseph Bagodonuts
1:08 pm on Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Although what the student did may have been wrong, we are losing our 1st amendment rights to free speech and not enough people realize it or care to try and do something about it. We are moving into very scary times.