Sorority sister arrested for posting ‘joke’ bomb threat against her college could face upto 10 years in prison
BOWLING GREEN, KENTUCKY: A university student from the small town of Stanford, Kentucky, was arrested for "playfully" threatening to detonate a bomb on the campus of the Kentucky college she attends, according to reports. Police stationed at Western Kentucky University have detained Hailee Reed, 20, after charging her with "terroristic threatening in the first degree," according to WBKO. Around midday, university police were looking into some suspicious items they feared may be explosive devices on one portion of campus. According to the news station, they turned out to be only building materials.
The campus parking structure then became the target of an anonymous social media threat about a planned bombing which turned out to be a joke but was taken seriously at the time because of the perceived threat, according to the police. Local news outlet Bowling Green Daily News, reported that the authorities concluded that the alarm was false and quickly identified a 'person of interest,' who acknowledged the threat was bogus and it was in fact a bomb hoax.
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“Unfortunately, a student made that post on the Yik Yak social media site,” WKU Public Information Officer Melissa Bailey told WBKO. “The student posted it to be a joke. Those things are taken very seriously, so we investigate those threats to the fullest. They were taken into custody.” Reed is said to be from Stanford, a town in Kentucky with a population of fewer than 4,000. She reportedly belongs to Alpha Xi Delta, a sorority on campus. “At first, going through the recruitment process was very intimidating for me. Since I am from such a small town, being in organizations like a sorority were unheard of to me,” the junior wrote on a July 5 Instagram post connected to a page run by Western Kentucky University’s Greek life. If convicted, Reed could face up to anywhere from five to ten years in prison for first-degree terroristic threatening.
A similar incident took place in San Antonio weeks ago on August 31 when a man was accused of threatening to kill children in a school in San Antonio, Texas. Acording to court documents, 44-year-old Carl Fuller, Sr. was detained on August 26 and immediately posted a $50,000 bond on a charge of making terroristic threats. In connection with the case, Fuller is accused of targeting a group of seventh-grade students in a group chat forum in the affidavit filed for an arrest warrant. According to the affidavit, Fuller was upset with the men at Southwest Preparatory School's South WW White campus and accused them of harassing a young relative. Due to the seriousness of the threats against the school, the district administration decided to stop classes on Monday to give the police time to respond.