(The Center Square) – A Florida sheriff has made good on his promise to parents and students: if you violate the law, you will be arrested and if parents won’t raise their kids, he will.
Volusia County Schools and Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood issued a joint statement to parents Friday about school safety after schools in the county were experiencing an increase in threats of violence.
All threats are investigated and taken seriously because “safety is the number one priority,” they said. The announcement was made after 54 tips came into FortifyFL on Wednesday night, a suspicious activity reporting tool that allows residents to send alerts to law enforcement agencies and school officials in the event of an emergency and tips about serious threats of violence.
All 54 threats were investigated and found to be pranks. In response, the joint statement warns, “Any students or individuals found responsible for making threats or spreading false information will face serious consequences. This includes disciplinary actions at the school level, such as suspension or expulsion, as well as potential legal action, including arrest. We need the continued support of our parents and community members to reinforce the seriousness of these offenses with your children.”
Chitwood then held a news conference saying the volume of pranks misusing FortifyFL “is absolutely out of control and it ends now.”
So far this year, there have been 207 threats that have come in through FortifyFL. Not all were bogus. His deputies have arrested seven people for written threats to kill. One student tried to bring a loaded firearm into a football game and 11 weapons on campuses in the county were seized so far this year, he said.
He also issued warnings to parents: “parents, since you don’t want to raise your kids, I’m going to start raising them.
“Every time we make an arrest, your kid’s photo is going to be put out there. If I can in any way find out that a parent knew what was going on and wasn’t doing anything, your [expletive] is getting perp walked with him. For the little bastards out there who think this is funny, ‘ha ha ha, I want to get on social media,’ you ain’t that smart. Let me tell you … you’re getting caught.
“So parents, do your job. Don’t let Sheriff Chitwood raise your kids. This is absolutely ridiculous. Go talk to the families who have lost a loved one in a school shooting. These little knuckleheads think it’s funny, go talk to those parents and see how funny this is. It’s not.”
He also said the county will bill parents for the costs of investigating false claims made by their children.
“I know a set of parents right now, they’re looking at $11,000 each because somebody’s paying this bill,” he said.
In a separate social media post, he said they had two people in custody and were likely taking into custody a third.
“I can’t say this clearer. You don’t stand up on an airplane and yell, ‘hijack.’ You don’t walk into a movie theater and yell, ‘fire,’ and you don’t get online and post that you’re going to shoot up a school. It’s going to get your [expletive] sent to jail.”
One hoax cost his office roughly $21,000. “We’re coming after you,” he said to parents whose children he says cost the county money investigating the false threats.
He also said when they take juveniles into custody, “we’re going to show pictures.” They will be arrested, put in handcuffs, “paraded out in front of the news media” and their parents will be filmed when they come to pick them up. He also said, “their checkbooks are going to hurt.”
On Monday, he made good on his promise.
He announced that his office “arrested a Creekside Middle School student who made threats to commit a school shooting at Creekside or Silver Sands Middle School. He had written a list of names and targets. He says it was all a joke.”
As part of their investigation, his deputies “recovered airsoft rifles, pistols and fake ammunition along with knives, swords and other weapons he was showing off to other students in a video.
“For his actions, Carlo ‘Kingston’ Dorelli (age 11) is charged with a felony,” making a written threat of a mass shooting, he said.
Chitwood said he has the legal authority to “release the names and photos of juveniles who are committing these felonies, threatening our students, disrupting our schools and consuming law enforcement resources.”
He released the photo of Dorelli and published a video of him in handcuffs being walked by two deputies and placed in a jail cell.
