Valley Center teen charged in connection with ‘creepy clown’ posts
Prosecutors filed a criminal threat charge against one of two teen boys arrested this week for allegedly making “creepy clown” posts on social media that targeted local schools.
The teen charged is a 15-year-old from Valley Center, said Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. He is accused of making at least one post that could be viewed as threatening against Valley Center High School.
The other boy arrested is a 14-year-old Wichita public school student. He was booked into the county’s juvenile detention facility Monday morning for allegedly making clown-related threats against Wichita public schools. But there was no indication from prosecutors or police that he had been formally charged with any crimes as of Thursday morning.
“Creepy clown” threats, which involve people posing on social media as scary clowns in an attempt to frighten or harass others, have become a national phenomenon recently. Several school districts in the Wichita area were mentioned in such posts earlier this week, prompting reports to police.
The clown-related arrests of the 14- and 15-year-old boys are the only two known in the local area.
Other students have been disciplined by their schools.
The criminal threat charge the Valley Center teen is facing is a felony, Dillon said. On Tuesday, the teen was ordered to remain in the custody at the county’s Juvenile Residential Facility pending his next court date, which is Nov. 3.
The Eagle is not naming him because he is not facing charges as an adult.
The teen is a student of Valley Center High School, Valley Center public schools Superintendent Cory Gibson said Monday in a Facebook post.
He is thought to have made one or more of the posts, but they were not directed at anyone specific, Gibson said.
Contributing: Suzanne Perez Tobias of The Eagle
Amy Renee Leiker: 316-268-6644, @amyreneeleiker
This story was originally published October 6, 2016 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Valley Center teen charged in connection with ‘creepy clown’ posts."