Teen Arrested After Making Facebook Threats
Eric Rizley of Portage, Indiana was having a bad day. So the 19-year-old got on Facebook and started issuing threats. Unfortunately for him, that was actually a very, very bad idea. Now he faces criminal charges
"Watch out portage people might be dying soon," Rizley wrote on his account at about 4 AM Thursday morning. As if that wasn't enough to get his point across, he added messages like “bang bang” and “No this is it I’m bout to flip out.”
Rizley's mother and others commented on his incrementing posts, begging him to calm down and take them down. But he refused. Later that morning the father of one of his friends saw the digital threats and contacted police.
When the police arrived at his home, they found Rizley smoking marijuana. He told them he had no intention of following through with the threats. According to the authorities, Rizley had recently been the victim of an unsolved robbery and that may have contributed to his anger.
Nevertheless, he was arrested on charges on felony intimidation. “Hopefully this will be the beginning of him receiving help,” said Portage Assistant Police Chief Bill Mesich.
At the very least it is hopefully the beginning of him not threatening people on Facebook anymore.