A twelve-year-old student in Lancaster, Ohio was detained after his classmates claimed the student possessed bombs. Now, his mother is speaking out on Facebook, saying that her son was falsely accused and wrongfully arrested.
In a Sept. 27 Facebook post, Sammy Roberts said that she received a phone call from her son’s junior high school, where she was informed that he was arrested for having a bomb “strapped to his chest and another in his book bag.”
When Roberts spoke to her son he said he didn’t bring any bombs to school. Police later said they didn’t find any bombs on him.
Still, her son was detained.
“He was STILL taking my son into a detention facility and I could see him Monday for court! I couldn’t believe my ears!” Roberts wrote of her son’s school officer in her now-viral Facebook post. “I asked ‘you’re REALLY arresting my child based off of hearsay?’ ARE YOU SERIOUS??’”
Roberts then said she went to the detention facility where her son was being held and was not allowed to see him, though she could have a brief phone call with him.
“My heart has been shattered to a million pieces after explaining to him, I’m sorry the school has let you down. The system and the police have let you down,” Roberts wrote she told her son. “You shouldn’t BE there.”
When she spoke with the local Sheriff’s Office, Roberts said it confirmed that her son had been arrested “purely on the fact that ‘witnesses’ (which were a couple of children) came to the office and said they HEARD” her son had bombs.
“I’m scared they will try to drill into my son for a false confession and take advantage of his fear as well. I’m worried for my sons future and now, emotional wellbeing,” Roberts said in her post. “There’s a chance they could keep him in there untill [sic] he’s 21! It’s not RIGHT. My son deserves his childhood and future!”
On Sept. 30, the Fairfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that her son had been charged with “inducing panic,” and that the entire situation was still “under investigation.“
The post was spammed by respondents criticizing the police response.
“Instead y’all post it three days later because of all the backlash y’all have been getting. Nice way of covering your tracks!!!” wrote one.
The post has over 1,000 comments, nearly all negative.
“I typically give support to all law enforcement. But this is a travesty of justice and someone needs to be held accountable!” wrote another respondent.
That same day, Roberts announced that her son had been released to her custody.
Yesterday, Roberts shared the police report about the incident on Facebook.
In it, a deputy from the Sheriff’s Office says that three of Roberts’ son’s classmates claimed that he said he had a bomb in his backpack and one strapped to his waist, and that he had said “‘Allah Akbar,’ suggesting a terrorist connotation related to suicide vests.”
“Allah Akbar,” an Arabic phrase that translates to “God is greatest,” is used by Muslims in prayer. The phrase has also been shouted by terrorists before carrying out attacks.
According to the deputy, Roberts’ son did tell an authority figure, whose name is redacted in the report, that he said “Allah Akbar.”
The police report also reveals that the deputy on the scene had not been wearing a body camera, meaning there isn’t any footage of the incident, he didn’t inform Roberts’ son of his rights before he was arrested, and didn’t interview any of the kids who told the school about the alleged bombs.
In subsequent Facebook posts, Roberts said that her son did talk about bombs at school but did not say he had a bomb on him, and accused the Sheriff’s Office of editing the police report. She also said her son was brought in by the court to get fingerprinted.
“I’m disgusted,” Roberts wrote in a Facebook post. “My son was not read his rights AND he was unlawfully arrested so his fingerprints shouldn’t be a requirement anyway.”
As shown by the hundreds of comments Roberts received on her Facebook posts, the public is on her side.
“Hearsay is unreliable evidence. I don’t even understand why they would take your son on hearsay and absolutely no evidence,” a commenter said. “I’d press charges on the ones that are saying this and the police station for scaring your child to the point he’ll have PTSD. Sue them all!”
“They shouldn’t have even been talking to him without you present! Hes a kid… You can’t arrest a kid cuz of what another kid said with no credible evidence!” another commenter said. “Especially without a parent present because of the risk of coercion or risk that they don’t know their rights.”
Roberts said that her son’s pre-trial hearing will be on Oct. 29.
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