A teen has been arrested following a false threat made against a Colquitt County School.
On November 29, the Colquitt County Sheriff's Office became aware of threats being transmitted via Instagram from an account purported to belong to a student at Willie J. Williams Middle School.
CCSO says the threats were sent via Instagram Messenger to a different student and the message indicated that the student would bring a gun to school and target several particular students.
The student that received the threat took a screen capture of the conversation and began sending the screen captured image to their friends. Deputies say that the image made it through several different people before someone finally alerted law enforcement about the threat.
Shortly after being made aware of the threat, investigators with the sheriff's office and Moultrie Police Department, as well as Sheriff Rod Howell, made contact with a juvenile whose name matched the name on the sending Instagram account.
After conducting an investigation at the juvenile's house, speaking with the juvenile, interviewing parents and relatives, and searching electronic equipment at the house, it became apparent that the juvenile was the target of cyber bullying and set up.
Out of an abundance of caution, after consulting with WJW Middle School administration, the parent of the juvenile agreed to keep their child out of school the following day while the investigation continued.
On November 30, numerous deputies and investigators were at WJW Middle School as classes began.
Upon speaking to multiple students and following the chain of students passing screen captures, investigators were able to determine a suspect of the cyber bullying.
Upon speaking to the juvenile, the suspect admitted to making a false Instagram profile in an attempt to get the other juvenile in trouble.
The juvenile was taken into custody and is being charged with terroristic threats and identity fraud.
Sheriff Howell says "the sheriff's office would like to thank the Moultrie Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Willie J. Williams Middle School staff and administrators, Colquitt County School System, Colquitt County Director of School Safety Sean Edgar, and the Colquitt County School Resource officers for their help in the investigation. The sheriff's office would also like to request that parents continue to monitor their children's online presence and help us prevent future incidents of cyber bullying and in class bullying going forward."