Student In Custody For Red Lake High School Threat:
The FBI is being very tight-lipped about the new scare in Red Lake…
On Tuesday, FBI Special Agent Michael Tabman announced in a news release, “At the present time, we believe the alleged threat to the Red Lake High School has been neutralized. Because this investigation is ongoing and involves a juvenile, there will be no further comment,” the AP reports.
MySpace contact results in man’s arrest:
BROOKSVILLE A 24-year-old Spring Hill man has been charged with sexual battery after he met a 14-year old girl on a popular Internet site, then had sex with her, according to an arrest affidavit from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.
James M. Tarduno, 3137 Wiltshire Ave., was arrested Tuesday and faces charges of lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 years of age or older, but younger than 16.The victim told investigators that she met Tarduno on MySpace.com, a popular social Internet site frequented by young people.
The two corresponded for a month online and through text messages on cell phones, then made arrangements to meet for sex, according to the report.
Tarduno met the victim at her house last Friday and they walked to Tarduno’s home, where they had sexual contact in the driveway, the report said. They also had sex in Tarduno’s station wagon, police said.
Tarduno later admitted to the sexual offense when contacted by investigators.
Like this story wasn’t creepy enough…
According to the report, Tarduno worked in security at Eckerd Youth Alternatives E-How-Kee Camp, a camp in Brooksville for troubled youngsters.
Tarduno started as a night watchman at the camp earlier this year and had no direct contact with youngsters there, said Lou Anne Banks, a spokeswoman for Eckerd Youth Alternatives, when reached Tuesday afternoon.
Banks said Tarduno passed law enforcement background checks at the time of his application. She said Tarduno ‘no longer works with us as of this morning.’
When I was 24, I dated one girl who was 21 and another who was 19. 19 is still a little young for a 24-year-old, but she was still LEGAL!!!
I’ll never understand how any legal adult in their right mind would want to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
I couldn’t find the MySpace of the suspect at this time.
New threats at Red Lake School:
Haven’t these kids ever heard the expression “don’t poke the bear”?…
Officials at Red Lake High School arranged extra security after rumors that a group of students planned an assault at the school, which was the site of an attack last year in which seven people were gunned down.
The Star Tribune of Minneapolis, citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation, reported Tuesday that a ninth-grade student was in custody.
Minnesota high school violent plot foiled:
More details…
RED LAKE, Minn., April 25 (UPI) — Federal officials have foiled a gang-related violent plot at the Red Lake, Minn., high school where seven people were gunned down last year.
An unidentified ninth-grade boy with no record of behavioral problems was taken into custody late last week, and the FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs agents were working at increasing security at the school, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Tuesday.
Staff members and students learned of a “hit list” that contained dozens of names, mostly students and a few staff members, the report said.
If you plan a school attack where people have been previously killed in one, joking or not, the law is going to come down on you like a ton of bricks.
Letter: Use of names in Columbine column could mislead others into repeating actions:
This is a letter to the paper of Kansas State University. I don’t know the original article the author is referring to, but it seems like it had something to do with the Columbine anniversary last week. Anyway, this is a person after my own heart…
Editor,
I was appalled at Thursday’s column on the shooting at Columbine High School. The apparent lack of respect displayed by the article was very upsetting for me.
The author states that these individuals were not monsters; only their acts were monstrous. The minute these young men brought guns into a school and started shooting, they became monsters.
Another misstep by the author was the inclusion of their names. The names have been enshrined on Websites by other misguided youths, and have given them people to rally behind. The acts of those two individuals should never be forgotten, but their names should drift into obscurity.
I attended a school that was a middle-class, white suburban school just like Columbine, located on the opposite side of Denver.
My school was hit very hard by the reality of what happened, and how it easily could have been us. I did see the memorial that was set up shortly after the shooting and have never been anywhere so quiet, and yet the expressions of the people said so much.
On April 20, 1999, our schools felt less safe, and a community was trying to find answers as to why kids were killing other kids. A discussion of the reasons why two kids turned into monsters should be held. The discussion should never not include the great pain a community felt and the terror the students and faculty felt.
Chris Rude
Graduate Student
Animal Sciences and Industry
I do disagree on one point. The names of Harris and Klebold, scumbags that they are, should be remembered. If you forget the names of history’s monsters, it will only be a matter of time before their crimes against humanity are forgotten too.
Police search accused Thurmont teacher’s home:
It’s been a while since we talked about the case of Michelle Dohm. She is the teacher from Maryland who is accused of stalking and threatening students. On Friday, local police searched her house…
Members of the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office on Friday afternoon searched the home of Michelle Dohm, a Thurmont school teacher accused of stalking students and making bomb threats in fall 2005.
Police were looking for handwriting samples, according to Cpl. Jennifer Bailey. Officers with a search and seizure warrant began searching Ms. Dohm’s home, at 2 Furnace Court, about noon, said Frederick County State’s Attorney Scott Rolle.
“We felt we needed the (handwriting samples) for comparative purposes,” Mr. Rolle said.
Although Mr. Rolle could not comment on what was taken, he said all the information police obtained would be shared with Ms. Dohm’s defense lawyer.
It seems that there have been further shenanigans in this case…
At the same time as police were searching Ms. Dohm’s house, the Thurmont Police Department investigated a suspicious envelope mailed to a residence at Emmitsburg Road, about two miles away.
Thurmont Police Chief Greg Eyler said he could not reveal what the letter inside the envelope said. However, the letter did have certain similarities to the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly left for students last fall.
One of the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly wrote stated, “Tick tock, tick tock. Is it as bomb or is it a clock. You ignored the note on the van. Now I will carry out my plan.”
“The occupant received an envelope that seemed suspicious,” Chief Eyler said. “It was heavy on the hand.”
Thurmont Officer First Class Christopher McLoughlin responded to Emmitsburg Road and called in the bomb squad, Chief Eyler said. A deputy from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office also responded.
The envelope, postmarked April 20 and sent from Thurmont, was taken apart, and nothing was found, Chief Eyler said.
“Everything is OK,” he said.
The letter is being compared to the letters Ms. Dohm allegedly sent and being sent to a laboratory for further review, Chief Eyler said.
This is the strangest case I’ve ever covered. It’s like watching a bad made for TV movie.
FBI assisting Red Lake police in investigation:
The schools in Red Lake have been under lockdown since Tuesday while the FBI and Red Lake police investigate threats made against the schools…
Paul McCabe, spokesman for the FBI, said today that the agents are assisting Red Lake police but said he could not comment on the situation. McCabe referred a Herald reporter to the Red Lake police.
Interim Police Chief Pat Graves said, through a spokeswoman, that he would not comment to the news media about the situation.
Tribal Chairman Floyd “Buck” Jourdain Jr., is out of town and unavailable for comment, said a tribal spokeswoman.
A school employee said the schools, including a separate building for kindergarten and Head Start about a mile from the high school and middle school, have been in “lockdown” since Tuesday because of the reported threats.
Superintendent Stuart Desjarlaits said school was in session today but refused to comment on the reported threats.
Employees of the school said that reported threats from several students involving violence at the school lead to the lockdown being imposed. The lockdown means students are not allowed to leave the school building during the day, including no recess outdoors for elementary students, an employee said.
More on this if any more information becomes available.
This another article about how the trial of Tobin Kerns has been delayed yet again due to the immunity situation of the two witnesses, Daniel Farley and Joseph Sullivan. Nothing new that we haven’t talked about already, but I want to point out some things in the article…
Kerns, 18, and another student, Joseph Nee, 20, were charged with promotion of anarchy, conspiracy to commit murder and threatened use of a deadly weapon in fall, 2004, after Marshfield Police found materials at Kerns’ home outlining a planned attack on Marshfield High School with a list targeting groups of students, teachers and administrators.
Acting on a tip by Nee and other students, police found a binder and evidence that Kerns’ computer had been used to look at Web sites like the Anarchist’s Cookbook, which explains how to make explosives leading to Kerns’ arrest in September.
According to a source that’s very close to the proceedings, there was no list found at the Kerns’ house. The source says that the only list of names was the one Joe Nee gave verbally to police while trying to implicate Tobin.
And lastly, according to the source, witnesses have stated that Nee, Farley, and Sullivan were still talking about their plan after Tobin Kerns had broken ties with them and was in Oregon. And let’s not forget that Joe Nee had stayed at the Kerns’ residence, and the evidence seized could have belonged to Joe Nee himself.
But as usual, let’s not let facts get in the way of journalism.
Gag Order Issued in Murder Case:
A gag order has been issued in the ongoing case of Kevin Ray Underwood, who murdered 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin…
A McClain County District Judge has ordered a gag order be put in place in the case against Kevin Ray Underwood.
Underwood is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jamie Rose Bolin.
Special Judge Gary Barger met with attorney’s from both the defense and prosecution Monday and ordered them to refrain from making any statements regarding the case.
In his order, the judge stated that both parties be prohibited from discussing evidence, potential evidence, anticipated evidence, opinions on evidence already obtained or evidence obtained in the future.
The judge will allow all involved to discuss general information regarding procedure, hearing dates, and anticipated trial dates.
The preliminary hearing for Underwood has not been set. Attorneys from both sides will meet on May 3, 2006, for a preliminary hearing conference, that’s when a preliminary hearing date will be set.
1st Degree Murder: Kevin Ray Underwood in Jamie Rose Bolin Case:
Everyone’s “favorite” scumbag du jour, Kevin Ray Underwood appeared in court…
Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, was led into McClain County Court with his hands and feet shackled and spoke softly as he told the judge he needed a public defender. Underwood has been formally charged in the case of the murder of Jamie Rose Bolin.
Authorities believe Underwood killed Jamie Rose Bolin last week when she disappeared after going to a library. Her funeral was scheduled for Thursday.
The body of Jamie Rose Bolin was found in a storage bin in the bedroom closet of Kevin Underwood, 26 – in Purcell about 40 miles (64 km) south of Oklahoma City – said Tim Kuykendall, district attorney for McClain County.
During the arraignment, a man in the hall outside the courtroom yelled, “Let’s string him up. Let’s string him up, baby killer, and hang him.” Police led the man away.
The man, identified as Bruce Shwartz, 48, was arrested on complaints of obstructing an officer and obstructing the peace.
Prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges Monday in court. McClain County Judge Gary D. Barger entered a not guilty plea for Underwood and appointed an attorney for him, whose court-appointed attorneys requested a gag order. He has no criminal record nor any history of mental illness.
Court-appointed attorneys for Underwood complained that officials had made “inflammatory, prejudicial and conclusory statements” to the media that had helped fuel widespread interest in the case, reports the AP. A hearing on the gag order was to be held Tuesday.
A not guilty plea? I can’t wait to see the defense on this one. Maybe they’ll try to blame it on Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. That’s not meant as a joke or disrespect towards Jamie Rose Bolin. It means that I can’t imagine a legitimate defense for Underwood. But since he did plead not guilty, hopefully a jury will convict him and give him the death sentence.