Santa Rosa police investigating racist email at middle school
SANTA ROSA - Santa Rosa police are determining if a racist and anti-Semitic mail received by teachers and administrators of Rincon Valley Middle School was by a student or a random act.
A Rincon Valley teacher on Friday contacted the Santa Rosa Police Department after receiving the presentation in PowerPoint.
"We're trying to see if this was somebody within the school district who was just a student because we cannot tell if there was a reason or a pattern for why these specific teachers or administrators were sent this document or if it is just like a random act," said police spokesperson Lt. Christopher Mahurin.
Santa Rosa City Schools District superintendent Anna Trunnel has yet to comment. Mahurin says an investigation is still ongoing to determine if there was a crime committed or if hate speech was involved.
"If this was a student who sent this out and there's no crime, we refer to the school for disciplinary action against the student," he said. "If we can determine the crime was committed and then identify which individual that sent this out to all the students, the teachers and administrators, they will be held accountable for it."
Last September, antisemitic flyers were tossed onto lawns and driveways near Congregation Beth Ami and Joseph Weingarten Chabad Jewish Center in Santa Rosa's Bennett Valley neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Mahurin says these cases happen "every once in a while", and advised residents and Rincon Valley Middle School students, teachers, and administrators to "give the police a call if they see someone suspicious."