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Tag: terroristic threats

  • American Airlines Terror Threat: Dutch Teen Arrested

    There has been a new twist in the story of a 14-year-old who tweeted a terroristic threat to American Airlines on Sunday.

    It has been reported that the teen responsible has been arrested and taken into custody.

    In a statement to Business Insider, Dutch police spokesman Wessel Stole said that law enforcement officials were not able to “communicate any state of charges at this point.”

    Stole said that the reason for revealing that an arrest had been made was largely due to “a great deal of interest on the Internet.”

    At the heart of the viral controversy is a teenage girl named Sarah or as she’s known on Twitter @QueenDemetriax_. Sarah thought it would be funny to tweet a terroristic threat to American Airlines:

    Once American Airlines responded that it takes such threats seriously and intended to report her to the FBI, the teenager seemed to both panic and bask in her new found fame at the same time.

    Sarah was taken into custody on Monday by Dutch police officials in Rotterdam, a city in the Netherlands.

    Dutch police have since revealed that they did not take the teenager into custody on behalf of or at the request of American law enforcement officials.

    The explanation seems to suggest that Sarah will be tried for at least one violation of Dutch laws.

    While some may roll their eyes at a stupid prank resulting in an arrest and subsequent charges, it’s important to remember that what is obviously a joke to you is not a laughing matter to government authorities.

    It’s not unusual for persons to create Twitter accounts that do not reflect their genuine identity. Such a person could be a threat; it’s up to officials to perform a thorough investigation to disprove this.

    It’s also important to remember that depending on where you live, feigning a terroristic threat could be a punishable offense.

    Parents, please talk to your kids about why it’s not advisable to threaten terrorist actions at all, but most especially against airline companies that have been victimized by terrorists in the past.

    Failure to do so many result in the police knocking on your door in the near future.

    Once again: Good luck, Sarah!

    Image via YouTube

  • American Airlines Reports Teen’s Terroristic Tweet

    There are few things in this world that are quite as annoying as spoiled teenagers attempting to troll about non-laughing matters.

    No matter how hard these clueless youngsters try, the reality of terrorism in a post-9/11 world is never going to be funny to anyone with any kind of sense. Especially when the company you choose to send your threat to is none other than American Airlines.

    Today’s fail comes courtesy of a teenage girl named Sarah aka @QueenDemetriax_.

    For reasons that are still hard to fathom, young Sarah thought it was a good idea to tweet the following threat to the American Airlines Twitter account on Sunday morning:

    Being a 14-year-old sometimes means being unable to fully appreciate the serious nature of one’s disturbing actions:

    Of course things could stop being funny immediately depending on where this person lives. Terrorist threats, even if fake, can get you in serious trouble. She may find herself in jail or facing a heavy fine.

    There’s also the fact that this person will go viral for all the wrong reasons: Making a terrorist threat against American Airlines and being reported to the FBI.

    Her tweet and the consequences are absolutely documented. Forever.

    Gone are the days you could do something stupid as a kid and no one would find out.

    When she applies to a college and they do a thorough background check, this will most likely pop up during their search.

    When she applies for a job in ten years and competition is particularly fierce this could be what costs her.

    While we can all sit back and shake our heads at the folly of youth, it is a sad reminder how clueless a generation of kids are about the permanent nature of information on social media. I suspect this teen is in for a rather rude awakening.

    Speaking of which, I’m sure her parents are going to be very amused when they get wind of this.

    …Good luck, Sarah!

    Image via samir mezrahi, Twitter

  • Man Gets 5-Year Social Media Ban After 6-Month Stint in Jail over Tumblr Post

    A Georgia man has been sentenced to time served, probation, and given an all-out 5-year social media ban after pleading guilty to making terroristic threats via his Tumblr blog.

    20-year-old Caleb Jamaal Clemmons has spent the past 6 months in jail, having been unable to afford his $20,000 bond. He’ll be credited with that time and given 5 years probation, during which he’ll be banned from four counties and barred from posting to any form of social media – all because of one post he made on Tumblr this past February:

    hello. my name is irenigg and i plan on shooting up georgia southern. pass this around to see the affect it has. to see if i get arrested.

    Clemmons was a former student at the university. His “plan” worked, as he was arrested just a few hours after he made the post. University police credit an anonymous tipster who alerted them to the troubling Tumblr post via email. Police searched Clemmons’ residence and found no evidence to suggest that he was planning on actually harming anyone at the school.

    But Clemmons languished in jail, unable to make bail. His story sparked a petition on change.org, where his supporters argued that it was just a joke made on a “literary/satire/activist blog,” and that Clemmons had absolutely no intention of shooting anybody.

    “Caleb has stated multiple times throughout his Tumblr and Facebook that his blog was an experimental literary piece and an art project for a character named Ryan Lang he created. He went out of his way entertain his followers and friends with uncanny jokes as well as complex philosophical ideas. He has addressed this openly and personally upon receiving questioning of his posts,” read the petition.

    “Caleb Clemmons is not a terrorist. Throughout this process, Caleb has been very honest, patience, and compliant; in spite of this, this sweet young man has been absolutely traumatized over this horrific ordeal. He’s located in an overcrowded, underfunded prison filled with racists. He was punched in the face and verbally and physically assaulted on multiple occasions over his skin pigmentation. He has been sent to solitary confinement due to the actions of others.”

    Although Clemmons is now out of jail, he’ll have to complete mental health classes in order to suspend his time at a probation center. And of course, there’s that 5-year social media ban.

    Clemmons isn’t the only young man to fake charges of making terroristic threats online. In May, a YouTube rapper was arrested and charged after posting “fuck a boston bombinb wait til u see the shit I do, I’ma be famous for rapping, and beat every murder charge that comes across me” on his Facebook page.

    Although he claimed it was simply “rap braggadocio,” the teen was held for over a month without bail. The DA’s office finally dropped the charges back in June.

    [Stateboro Herald via The Verge]