Authorities Monitoring Social Media After Rape Victim Threatened On Twitter
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Jefferson County, Ohio, Sheriff Fred Abdalla issued a warning Monday night.
Abdalla told KDKA-TV News that his office would be monitoring Twitter 24 hours a day, searching for death threats in connection with the recent rape trial in Steubenville that ended with the conviction of two Steubenville High School football players.
He said that two juvenile girls, ages 15 and 16, were taken into custody Monday after they allegedly threatened, via Twitter, the life of the 16-year-old West Virginia girl who was raped.
And like the picture taken from social media, which was so important in the trial, it was the internet that led to the arrest of the two girls.
One of the girls is the cousin of 16-year-old Ma'Lik Richmond, who was convicted Sunday along with 17-year-old Trenton Mays.
The two tweets read:
"I'll celebrate by beating the (expletive) out of Jane Doe."
"You ripped my family apart, you made my cousin cry, so when I see you (expletive) it's going to be a homicide."
Monday, investigators from the attorney general's office interviewed the owners of the Steubenville house, where the widely-publicized photo of the victim was taken. It was exhibit No. 1 at last week's trial.
Abdalla says threats in this particular case have been especially numerous.
"The world is full of wackos," he said. "There were threats all along, threats against my family, but the ones that really upset me were threats to kill children at Big Red, and kill the children at Harding Middle School."
As far as social media is concerned, Abdalla says his office is keeping a close watch.
"Terrible things could to be said about this child, she continues to be victimized," Abdalla said.
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