‘Shoddy’ police work led to arrest of autistic child over threat at Three Oaks Middle

Reporter: Gail Levy
Published: Updated:
Thee Oaks Middle School (CREDIT: WINK News)

A 12-year-old child with autism is recovering after spending a night in jail, accused by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office of sending a threatening email.

The crime occurred when an email was sent from the student’s account saying he would shoot students at Three Oaks Middle School.

But now, an expert is questioning whether it was a hasty arrest.

The child’s family and lawyer say he did not commit the crime. And so did the school principal, who the family said called them to apologize.

“The thing about it is if you were to take a look at him, he has the body of a 12-year-old. He’s the height of a 12-year-old, but his mentality level is at five years old,” said Kimberly Green, a relative of the student.

The child is on the autism spectrum and is frequently bullied. The family’s attorney said someone accessed the child’s email and sent the threat.

And now, he is traumatized from being sent to jail and angry the school’s resource officer interviewed him without his mom present.

“The investigation was shoddy and I hate to say that, but it was,” said David Thomas, a former law enforcement officer and FGCU criminal justice professor. “It led to a bad arrest.”

The family’s attorney said the school knew the student was autistic and the school resource officer had to know once he talked to him.

On top of that, when the boy types, he types without spaces.

The email threat, “I’m taking a gun to school on Friday and I’m going to kill ever one,” contained spaces.

Green said during the time the child was jailed, he was still getting bullied.

“I have a son who is autistic and he’s almost 40 now, but I couldn’t imagine, I can’t imagine him being arrested and, and the trauma that he would go through,” Thomas said.

Shortly after the child was back home with family, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office asked the State Attorney’s Office to delay pursuing the case against the child because deputies identified another suspect.

“Why didn’t we take that much time to make sure that we got the right child especially considering those circumstances,” Thomas said. “Now this kid is forever marked because of what happened.”

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