By LIZETTE ALVAREZ
Published: October 15, 2013
MIAMI — Two girls, 12 and 14, have been charged with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony, in the death of a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide last month after being repeatedly bullied in person and online, the Polk County sheriff said Tuesday.
Rebecca Sedwick
MIAMI — Two girls, 12 and 14, have been charged with aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony, in the death of a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide last month after being repeatedly bullied in person and online, the Polk County sheriff said Tuesday.
Rebecca Sedwick
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At an emotional news conference, Sheriff Grady Judd said the two girls were charged after the older one posted an offensive online comment on Facebook on Saturday in connection with the case.
“Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself and I don’t give a,” said a comment posted on the girl’s account Saturday morning. The sentence ended with an expletive. Five weeks ago, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, a Lakeland seventh-grader, jumped to her death from a cement factory tower after enduring a year, on and off, of physical and online bullying.
With the latest post, deputies moved quickly on Monday night to arrest the 14-year-old girl they said was the prime instigator and a 12-year-old friend. Neither girl had anarrest record.
“We learned this over the weekend, and we decided that, look, we can’t leave her out there,” Sheriff Judd said, referring to the older girl. “Who else is she going to torment? Who else is she going to harass? Who is the next person she verbally abuses and attacks?”
He said the older girl told the police that her account had been hacked, and that she had not posted the comment.
Sheriff Judd said the decision to arrest was sudden. Originally, he had hoped to wait until he received data from two far-flung cellphone application companies, Kik Messenger and ask.fm, before moving forward. But, with enough probable cause in hand and the offensive post, he said, he decided not to wait.
“She forced this arrest today,” Mr. Judd said of the older girl.
The two girls, who Mr. Judd said were the “two primary harassers,” were booked into the juvenile court system and released to their parents under house arrest. He said that because the girls had clean records, they were unlikely to serve time in juvenile detention if convicted.
In a news conference brimming with outrage and incredulity, Mr. Judd said he was stunned by the older girl’s actions. He reserved his harshest words for her parents for failing to monitor her behavior and for allowing her to keep her phone. The girls already had been questioned by the police over the suicide.
“I’m aggravated that the parents are not doing what parents should do: after she is questioned and involved in this, why does she even have a device?” Sheriff Judd said. He added, “Parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a thousand pieces in front of that child, say her account was hacked.”
The police said the dispute with Rebecca began over a boy. The older girl was upset that Rebecca had once dated her boyfriend, they said.
“She began to harass and ultimately torment Rebecca,” said the sheriff, describing the 14-year-old as a girl with a long history of bullying behavior.
The police said the older girl began to turn Rebecca’s friends against her, including her former best friend, the 12-year-old who was charged. At first, the bullying was of the traditional variety — physical confrontations and face-to-face arguments, Sheriff Judd said.
The bullying grew so intense that Rebecca began cutting herself and was sent to a hospital by her mother to receive psychiatric care. Ultimately, her mother, Tricia Norman, pulled her out of Crystal Lake Middle School and switched her to another school.
But the bullying did not stop.
Eventually it leapt into the virtual world, Sheriff Judd said, and Rebecca began receiving messages that said, “You should go kill yourself,” and “You should drink bleach and die.”
The messages were sent using a variety of social media cellphone messaging and photo-sharing applications, including ask.fm and Kik Messenger.
“Watch what your children do online,” Sheriff Judd said. “Pay attention. Quit being their best friend and be their best parent. That’s important.”
Follow@NYTNational for breaking news and headlines.
At an emotional news conference, Sheriff Grady Judd said the two girls were charged after the older one posted an offensive online comment on Facebook on Saturday in connection with the case.
“Yes, I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself and I don’t give a,” said a comment posted on the girl’s account Saturday morning. The sentence ended with an expletive. Five weeks ago, Rebecca Ann Sedwick, a Lakeland seventh-grader, jumped to her death from a cement factory tower after enduring a year, on and off, of physical and online bullying.
With the latest post, deputies moved quickly on Monday night to arrest the 14-year-old girl they said was the prime instigator and a 12-year-old friend. Neither girl had anarrest record.
“We learned this over the weekend, and we decided that, look, we can’t leave her out there,” Sheriff Judd said, referring to the older girl. “Who else is she going to torment? Who else is she going to harass? Who is the next person she verbally abuses and attacks?”
He said the older girl told the police that her account had been hacked, and that she had not posted the comment.
Sheriff Judd said the decision to arrest was sudden. Originally, he had hoped to wait until he received data from two far-flung cellphone application companies, Kik Messenger and ask.fm, before moving forward. But, with enough probable cause in hand and the offensive post, he said, he decided not to wait.
“She forced this arrest today,” Mr. Judd said of the older girl.
The two girls, who Mr. Judd said were the “two primary harassers,” were booked into the juvenile court system and released to their parents under house arrest. He said that because the girls had clean records, they were unlikely to serve time in juvenile detention if convicted.
In a news conference brimming with outrage and incredulity, Mr. Judd said he was stunned by the older girl’s actions. He reserved his harshest words for her parents for failing to monitor her behavior and for allowing her to keep her phone. The girls already had been questioned by the police over the suicide.
“I’m aggravated that the parents are not doing what parents should do: after she is questioned and involved in this, why does she even have a device?” Sheriff Judd said. He added, “Parents, who instead of taking that device and smashing it into a thousand pieces in front of that child, say her account was hacked.”
The police said the dispute with Rebecca began over a boy. The older girl was upset that Rebecca had once dated her boyfriend, they said.
“She began to harass and ultimately torment Rebecca,” said the sheriff, describing the 14-year-old as a girl with a long history of bullying behavior.
The police said the older girl began to turn Rebecca’s friends against her, including her former best friend, the 12-year-old who was charged. At first, the bullying was of the traditional variety — physical confrontations and face-to-face arguments, Sheriff Judd said.
The bullying grew so intense that Rebecca began cutting herself and was sent to a hospital by her mother to receive psychiatric care. Ultimately, her mother, Tricia Norman, pulled her out of Crystal Lake Middle School and switched her to another school.
But the bullying did not stop.
Eventually it leapt into the virtual world, Sheriff Judd said, and Rebecca began receiving messages that said, “You should go kill yourself,” and “You should drink bleach and die.”
The messages were sent using a variety of social media cellphone messaging and photo-sharing applications, including ask.fm and Kik Messenger.
“Watch what your children do online,” Sheriff Judd said. “Pay attention. Quit being their best friend and be their best parent. That’s important.”
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