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Student in custody following threat to MFL MarMac school administrator

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MFL MarMac student William Carter was taken into custody Monday and charged with harassment after police uncovered a threat against a school administrator.

The public was notified of an issue at MFL MarMac Monday morning when superintendent Dale Crozier issued a release stating, “There is no current threat against the school. The situation has been handled. There is no lockdown today, but the school is always locked. There will be police presence as precaution only.”

Later Monday afternoon, Crozier released another statement, noting that his statement that there was no credible threat against the school held true throughout the event.

“There was a Facebook post last week that I received Friday afternoon that was vague, yet full of foul language from an 18-year-old male. The courts did not consider it to be a threat and therefore charges could not be filed. We were unable to move any further with this, however, at the school-level, I was able to meet with the student over the weekend, suspend him from school, remove him from graduation ceremonies, and then informed him that if he came to school, he would be arrested for trespassing,” Crozier explained. “This was all based on the original Facebook post, and that is all we had at that time.”

Based on that information, Crozier said precautionary measures were put in place on many levels, but the district did not feel it was appropriate to call off school or go into lockdown.

“We didn’t believe that the students were in any danger,” Crozier stated. “In this decision, I involved all levels of law enforcement and our school board, and we were all on the same page.”

Crozier said he’s known Carter since kindergarten and has a good relationship with him.

“He was cooperative, apologetic and remorseful about what he posted,” added Crozier. “The student already has enough credits to graduate. He does not live in Iowa anymore and was not planning to come to the school in the first place other than to return his computer and get his book bag and personal items from his locker.”

Crozier said the district was unable to release this information Monday morning. Unfortunately, he said, this created a social media frenzy.

“Early on, we involved all levels of law enforcement, and they were also monitoring the situation and were of the opinion that there was no credible threat,” he explained. “Then, over the night, the police uncovered a threat not against the school, but against a school administrator, which gave the grounds to make the arrest. The student is now in custody charged with harassment, and further charges may be pending.” 

“This was all performed in cooperation with law enforcement and their assistance was very helpful,” Crozier stated, adding that he thanks the public for its understanding and cooperation in the unfolding of this event.

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