Two Forsyth County Students Arrested for Posting School Threats, Held in Juvenile Detention

On Wednesday, September 4th, the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a school threat at Pinecrest Academy. A 15-year-old student had posted an online threat against the school. When questioned, the student admitted to making the post, claiming it was a joke and that he found it humorous. The student was arrested and charged with Terroristic Threats.

The following day, on Thursday, September 5th, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office School Resource Officers and Criminal Investigation Division detectives investigated 12 separate reports of threats to various schools in the county. The investigations revealed no credible threats, no firearms were found on any campus, and the students involved did not have access to weapons.

However, a 14-year-old male student from Desana Middle School was taken into custody and charged with Terroristic Threats and Disruption of Schools. Although the student did not possess a gun nor had access to one, his comments caused fear and disruption within the school.

Both students were transported to the Regional Youth Detention Center in Gainesville. They made their first appearance in juvenile court this morning, where Forsyth County juvenile court judges agreed with the district attorney’s request to keep the defendants in custody pending further court proceedings.

Sheriff Freeman commented on the situation, stating, “We take each and every threat to one of our schools as real and investigate them exhaustively. It is maddening that threats like these, hoax or not, follow a horrific event like the one in Barrow County earlier this week. Parents, please talk with your kids and explain that mentioning shooting up a school is no joke, and I will put them in jail if they do it.”

He also expressed his gratitude to the community for remaining vigilant, noting that school safety remains the top priority. “We have dozens of extra deputies at our schools in addition to our normal contingent of 56 deputies there every day. I want to thank Superintendent Young for his constant communication and support of our joint efforts in school safety. Know that we are having ongoing discussions, meetings, and reviews of school safety and opportunities to enhance our protection of our students and staff.”