- Another teen in Bay County has been arrested in connection with an online school threat.
- Authorities say Celena Martinez, 14, is facing second degree felony charges, for making a social media post threatening to set Rutherford High School in Panama City on fire.
- This comes after Bay County Schools Superintendent Mark McQueen held a press conference last month about the importance of keeping school campuses safe.
- Authorities say there’s been an uptick in student arrests since September following a deadly school shooting in Georgia.
BCSO NEWS RELEASE:
Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford announced the arrest of a Rutherford High School student this morning after she made a post on social media threatening to set the school on fire.
The student showed the post to her parent and asked to stay home because of the threat. The parent agreed and called the school to report the threatening post. BCSO investigators began looking into the threat and quickly determined the student had photoshopped the post to appear authentic when she had been the one to create it just so she could stay home from school.
Celena Martinez, age 14, was arrested and charged with Written or Electronic Threats to Kill, a second-degree felony.