Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Pearl City High
student arrested for
e-mail threats

Police said the youth caused a
New Jersey school to be evacuated
and searched for a bomb

By Jaymes K. Song
Star-Bulletin

It started when a 14-year-old boy from Salt Lake met some high school students from New Jersey inside an Internet "chat room."

The boy, a freshman in Pearl City High School, allegedly stole the identity of a high school student in Harrison, N.J., and e-mailed threats to two other students there.

The threats said Harrison High School was going to be bombed Feb. 2 "and any of the remaining students would be shot," according to Honolulu police Detective Christopher Duque.

"The severity and the violence that was stated in the e-mail addressing two of the Harrison High School students was quite graphic," said Duque, who serves in the department's white-collar crime unit.

The school was evacuated and searched the day the bomb was to be detonated, but nothing was found, Duque said.

Police in New Jersey and Honolulu -- with the help of the boy's Internet provider, Road Runner -- traced the threatening e-mail to a Salt Lake apartment, where the boy was arrested yesterday. The teen-ager is one of the first suspects to be arrested in Hawaii for making e-mail threats.

Police said the boy, whose identity has not been released, is also accused of making e-mail bomb threats to his own school earlier this school year.

He was counseled following those threats, according to school officials.

For the latest incident, the youth was booked for first- degree terroristic threatening, a felony, and released pending further investigation.

According to the FBI, he also could face federal charges including "making threats using interstate communication" and "using telecommunications to harass."

The boy has made no admission or statement, said Duque. But in many cases, he said, such e-mail threats are made as a prank or joke.

"That's the trouble with the Internet," said Pearl City Principal Gerald Suyama. "With the anonymity, they can print whatever. They have free rein to do anything they want without consequences." Suyama said he did not know the details of the arrest or threat and declined comment on the student.

He said he hopes the arrest sends a message to other students.

Police seized more than $3,000 worth of computer equipment during a search of the Salt Lake apartment, which the boy shares with his aunt, his legal guardian.

"Even though Hawaii is geographically isolated from the rest of the United States, we still can do investigations ... and we will not let any geographical boundaries get in our way of investigating computer crimes," Duque said.

He also hoped this will alert parents and guardians to be aware of their children's on-line activities.

"The responsibility of monitoring their children lies with them -- not with any other agency, police or educational system," Duque said.

He said in light of the events in Columbine, Colo., all threats are being taken seriously.

Duque said the boy will be also be investigated for other e-mail threats to the mainland.