Several schools in Medicine Hat were locked down in March after a number of students received a series of anonymous threats and police have issued warrants for the arrest of an Elliot Lake teen in connection to the case.
Medicine Hat police were contacted on March 6th by a group of students who received text messages threatening to harm them.
The threats prompted officials to temporarily lock down several schools in the area as a precaution.
Police launched an investigation to determine where the texts were coming from and found that similar complaints were also received by another Alberta police agency.
Investigators learned that there were more victims in other parts of Canada and the United States and that the texts were sent from someone using anonymous phone numbers generated from an online service provider.
Police say that the harassing and threatening text messages and social media communications originated from a young person’s Facebook account and that the security features had been compromised.
They also found out that the person responsible for the criminal activity assumed at least one other person’s online identity and that they created fake social media accounts using unprotected online photos and information.
Investigators were able to trace the origin of the messages to a home in Elliot Lake, Ontario and discovered that a 17-year-old girl who lived there had been arrested and charged in a similar incident the year before.
The teen was charged with criminal harassment, uttering threats, and public mischief for online activity targeting high school students in Elliot Lake and was released on bail.
Part of the conditions for her release in the 2015 incident included refraining from accessing social media and text messaging applications.
The OPP executed a search warrant on an Elliot Lake home on behalf of Medicine Hat Police on March 24 and seized several computer and electronic devices.
The seized items were sent for forensic analysis and police say there was significant evidence linking the online activity on the devices to the alleged offences and the suspect.
On May 20th, warrants for criminal harassment, uttering threats, identity fraud and public mischief were issued for the 17-year-old accused in the case.
