Third arrest in a week over Covington County school threats

COVINGTON CO., AL (WSFA) - A little more than 12 hours after Covington County investigators arrested a 16-year old for allegedly making threats against Straughn School, Sheriff Dennis Meeks wondered out loud how times have changed for everyone.

"We've had so many shootings, not just school shootings but churches as well," he said.

Meeks' office has made its third arrest of a juvenile in less than a week for threats against local schools.

The latest resulted from an investigation Monday night. Deputies were called to a home in Gantt after a student received a message on Instagram threatening Straughn School. Deputies later arrested a juvenile who confessed he had sent the message.

Deputies contacted the Department of Youth Services, which then charged the 16-year-old suspect. He was then transported to the Diversion Center in Dothan. The case remains under investigation.

Earlier Monday, a 12-year-old was taken into custody and transported to the DYS after posting an alleged threat against Red Level Schools on Facebook.

And a 12-year-old girl who apparently did not want to go to school was recently arrested after making up a threatening post about two schools that she showed to her mother. The plan to stay home backfired. While the threat was never posted online, the child's mother went to police.

"She is charged with filing a false report with a police officer that day," Meeks explained.

What are the reasons behind all this?

"They took God out of the school. They took discipline out of the school. Why do young children need a smartphone?" Meeks explained.

Meeks says children are not understanding the consequences of their social media posts, even if they don't mean it, and he blames much of this on lack of discipline at home.

Just this month, Meeks sent one of his investigators off for special training to learn the nuances of school threats on social media.

In two of the cases, the sheriff does not believe the students were serious, but it makes no difference these days. Gone are the days when investigators would check out the threats on a Monday morning if they happened over the weekend. Nowadays investigators act with a sense of urgency once they receive a tip, taking all school threat postings seriously.

"We have to treat every situation the same," Meeks said.

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