BANGOR, Maine — The 16-year-old former Orono High School student charged last month with felony terrorizing and harassment by electronic communication has violated the conditions of her release and now is subject to stricter conditions, a Penobscot County assistant district attorney confirmed Friday.
The charges stem from dozens of threatening, anonymous messages the teenager, formerly of Veazie, posted beginning in September on an Internet account of a former classmate she thought was flirting with her boyfriend, police said.
She violated the conditions of her release by contacting the former classmate on the social network Instagram, according to Assistant District Attorney Jim Aucoin.
The alleged cyberbully — a girl who used to go to Orono High with the victim but now attends a high school in southern Maine — was arrested and charged with the offenses on Nov. 1 by Veazie police Sgt. Keith Emery.
“I’ve handled harassment calls for 24 years and have never seen threats as violent, disgusting and vulgar as these,” Emery said last month of the anonymous posts, which began appearing on the victim’s Tumblr blog account in late September.
“They started out telling the girl she was ugly, a whore, slut, et cetera. As the messages continued through October, they got threatening,” the sergeant said. “Just very vulgar and horrific threats. There were dozens of these types of messages.”
Emery said last month that the suspect, whose name was withheld because of her age, confessed after she was interviewed at the Veazie police station in October. The terrorizing charge was elevated to felony status because the threats prompted the victim and her family to evacuate their home on several occasions, he said.
The suspect was released to her mother with specific conditions through the Maine Department of Probation’s juvenile division. Among other things, she was to have no contact with the victim, attend school and obey the rules of her home, he said. She was allowed to use the Internet only for school purposes and must be supervised while doing so.
Aucoin said Friday that the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office issued a warrant last week after the suspect violated the terms of her release by making contact with the victim on Instagram.
Instagram is a program and social network that allows users to share photos with other Instagram users as well as on a variety of other social networking services, including Twitter and Facebook. The program can be used on personal computers as well on smartphones.
The suspect turned herself in and appeared before a judge earlier this week at the Penobscot Judicial Center. Aucoin said that the suspect’s stricter release conditions include a requirement that she undergo evaluation.
Although the Bangor Daily News usually does not identify crime victims, Orono High School sophomore Alexis Henkel, 15, her parents, Norbert and Judy Henkel, and her twin brother, Austin, last month agreed to speak publicly about what they’ve experienced in the hope of educating others about the impact that cyberbullying has on those who become targets.
On Friday, Judy Henkel said the Instagram violation was one of about a dozen she reported to juvenile authorities. She said she has been told that the suspect also has been ordered to participate in counseling “rather than just sit there” and that she now is only allowed to leave home to go to school or to work.
What can be done? It isn’t like she totally couldn’t have internet access… that wouldn’t be fair!
I have an idea, lock the little b…h up! Listen, this is not a kid! At 16 she is able to reason like an adult. I say lock her up and let her find out what it feels like to be threatened and harassed and scared.
no, she is not able to reason like an adult. The human brain is not fully developed until age 25. She is a minor, and can not make adult decisions. Teenagers do some crazy things, and usually once caught, that’s all it takes. This teenager needs a mental health evaluation.
at 16, 1 knows what cruel is. She is well aware of her actions… be serious!
many of us knew at age sixteen right from wrong (for the most part) but it’s obvious that this girl has mental health issues. It is also scientifically proven that the human brain is not fully formed until the age of 25. If teenagers had the fully functional brain of an adult, then they would all be charged as adults when a crime is committed.
They are. If a 16 yo commits murder or rape as an adult they are charged. This girl knows right from wrong and is well aware of the consequences. She needs to be scared for once.
yes, in some cases they are. But not all of them are. I don’t know if she knows right from wrong. I don’t know her (I’m guessing you must know her to be able to say that) – But from the sounds of it, she needs some medical help to start, and strong supervision.
you don’t need a full, adult functioning brain to know you don’t terrorize someone… yes, she definitely needs mental assistance, but she also needs supervision. If she does not know this is wrong, what else doesn’t she know? She is a dangerous 16 year old who needs to be contained and supervised
teenagers do not reason the same way as an adult – you can look it up if you like, but they don’t. She does sound dangerous, I agree. ***go back to original argument though. – I don’t want to type it all out again.
So do agree that by your logic the age of consent should 25 years old ?
She needs to have her @$$ beat, that’s what she needs.
And you’re just the man to do it, right pally?
You have a better solution, Bill? Because of course, our youth today are such disciplined, well behaved kids, right? Apparently, even under the circumstances, this girl went right at it again! There need to be SEVERE consequences for her actions, not pacifistic counseling and/or other psychological NONSENSE. Pain has been an EXCELLENT teacher for millennia. :)
so you find it perfectly acceptable to beat a female teenager? Who most likely has some mental health issues?
A better solution? Yes. A mental evaluation, and better supervision by her parents. If they can’t provide that court ordered supervision, then she needs to be placed somewhere, where that supervision is available.
This is why teenagers are getting away with so much. She’ll be evaluated and put on meds and she can talk about how horrible her life has been, blah, blah, blah. I’ll admit beating her isn’t the answer but having true consequences for actions will teach her better than coddling her and telling her why none of this is her fault! Bullying is serious and it didn’t have to be about a boy. Girls in JR. High and High School can be mean and vicious and they need to know what it is like to be afraid.
I never said that she shouldn’t be punished for her crime, she should be dealt with appropriately. – but until her court case comes up she needs to follow court orders – as do her parents. Beating her is not a solution. Bullying is bullying – whether it’s cyberstalking, or physical.
Probably ain’t PC or anything, bu I’m really okay with a bullying session for kids that just don’t get it — like her. Put her in a room with two or three female drill sergeant-types and really severely rag on her — no violence, just straight-up bullying and harassment – so the kid truly understands how it feels.
It’s not once size fits all, and wouldn’t take long for some numbnut parent to sue over picking one his/her precious snowflake. Just a thought
Beating up kids ain’t on my agenda, brother. And popping-off about beating up teenage girls isn’t anywhere in my universe. You’re not one of those who tormented small animals because thy ‘needed to know who’s boss,’ are you?
Just getting around to thinking maybe the girl seriously needs to “undergo some evaluations?” Really needs a couple weeks in a locked psych ward to see what kind of time-bomb is ticking between those ears…
To get so incensed over a boy, to do such terrible things to another girl. She may learn as she gets older, boys are a dime a dozen as are girls. My meaning is, that no boyfriend or girlfriend is worth the trouble this girl now finds herself in.
She must have connections since she is still allowed to torment someone…
We will be reading about here again and again.
This girl has a SERIOUS problem. Apparently even threats of more severe punishment don’t stop her. She finds a sort of perverse pleasure in another persons fear and pain . Some people you just can’t help no matter what and they end up in prison. My guess would be that’s where this teenage thug is heading.