Secret Service interrogates Tacoma 7th grader for a Facebook post
121 replies, posted
[URL]http://www.q13fox.com/news/kcpq-secret-service-the-feds-question-a-tacoma-seventh-grader-for-a-facebook-comment-about-president-obama-and-suicide-bombers-20110516,0,5762882.story[/URL]
[release]
TACOMA—
A Tacoma seventh grader faced federal interrogation at school for what he posted on his [URL="http://www.q13fox.com/topic/arts-culture/internet/social-media/facebook-ORCRP006023.topic"]Facebook[/URL] page. His mom said it all happened without her knowledge or permission.
Timi Robertson said she had just finished lunch with a friend Friday when she got a phone call from her son's school.
"I answered it, and it's the school security guard who's giving me a heads up that the [URL="http://www.q13fox.com/topic/crime-law-justice/laws/law-enforcement/u.s.-secret-service-ORGOV0000126158.topic"]Secret Service[/URL] is here with the Tacoma Police Department and they have Vito and they're talking to him," Robertson said.
After [URL="http://www.q13fox.com/topic/unrest-conflicts-war/terrorism/osama-bin-laden-PECLB20372037.topic"]Osama bin Laden[/URL] was killed, 13-year-old Vito LaPinta posted an update to his Facebook status that got the Feds attention.
[highlight]
"I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," says LaPinta.[/highlight]
A week later, while Vito was in his fourth period class, he was called in to the principal's office.
"A man walked in with a suit and glasses and he said he was part of the Secret Service," LaPinta said. "He told me it was because of a post I made that indicated I was a threat toward the President."
The Tacoma school district acknowledged a Secret Service agent questioned Vito and that it was a security guard who called Vito's mom because the principal was on another call. The school district said they didn’t wait for Vito’s mother to get there because they thought she didn't take the phone call seriously.
"That's a blatant lie," Robertson said.
The teen’s mom says she rushed to Truman Middle School immediately and arrived to discover her son had already been questioned for half an hour.
"I just about lost it," she said. "My 13 year-old son is supposed to be safe and secure in his classroom and he's being interrogated without my knowledge or consent privately."
The seventh grader said that once his mom showed up, the agent finished the interview and told him he was not in any trouble. Now he's more careful about what he posts online.
His mother says she isn't financially able to take legal action but hopes her family's story raises awareness about the treatment she said her son endured.
The Seattle branch of the Secret Service did not respond to requests for comment.[/release]
Video: [URL]http://www.q13fox.com/videobeta/eacb433a-f046-4206-8df8-c4680910d0ae/News/SON-QUESTIONED-BY-SECRET-SERVICE[/URL]
A 7th grader?
I mean, when you walk into a classroom full of kids, you don't really see many people old enough to be criminal masterminds. Hell, I doubt the kid can even tie his shoe laces properly.
[QUOTE=Shibbey;29890966]Hell, I doubt the kid can even tie his shoe laces properly.[/QUOTE]
you're probably mentally retarded if you can't tie your shoes by 7th grade
this whole story is silly. interrogating a 7th grader at all sounds completely unnecessary
Only in America.
Oh fuck, most of Facepunch is in trouble for posting in the Osamas dead thread
Dear god i did too
It's uneccesary, but 30 minutes of "interrogation" isn't exactly a big deal either. A concerned soccer mom probably reported his Facebook post. The Secret Service is also pretty good about having agents in every region of the U.S. I remember being questioned by a secret service agent my junior year of highschool because a $20 bill I tried to use in the cafeteria was a "nearly flawless" fake. Good times.
I'm pretty sure 7th graders are too busy figuring out the weird feelings in his pants to pull a John Wilkes Booth
Seriously 'secret service', when the normally behavin people in the internet suddenly posts a single post that is somehow deemed as a threat towards someone is either a joke or it isn't what he meant.
[editline]17th May 2011[/editline]
Especially when it's a underaged child, what he's gonna do anyway? Post badly photoshopped pictures of the president?
[QUOTE=The mouse;29891099]Only in America.[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8249832/11-year-old-boy-pleads-not-guilty-to-rape[/URL]
:colbert:
[QUOTE=SomTervo;29891181]I'm pretty sure 7th graders are too busy figuring out the weird feelings in his pants to pull a John Wilkes Booth[/QUOTE]
John Hinckley Jr. tried to kill Reagan because of a weird feeling in his pants.
Whoever authorized this should be fired.
- Snip -
(Right here, I wrote a joke about killing the U.S. president, and I ended up getting reported to the FBI by another user. Please do not take the joke seriously. I have absolutely no intent of killing the U.S. president, and I should not be considered a threat to U.S. national security. I will be much more careful with what I say from now on.)
They're just doing their jobs, it's what they're paid to do!
[QUOTE=Mingebox;29891272]John Hinckley Jr. tried to kill Reagan because of a weird feeling in his pants.[/QUOTE]
I thought he blamed him for gambling debts?
American Intelligence Agencies at work, people.
Bay of Pigs? It's called a bay, so it must be a perfect invasion point.
Took 10 years to find Osama.
Find a post on Facebook by a 7th grader? Must be a terrorist.
[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;29891430]I thought he blamed him for gambling debts?[/QUOTE]
No, he did it because he wanted to get Jodie Foster's attention.
[QUOTE=Last or First;29891438]American Intelligence Agencies at work, people.
[B]Bay of Pigs? It's called a bay, so it must be a perfect invasion point.[/B]
Took 10 years to find Osama.
Find a post on Facebook by a 7th grader? Must be a terrorist.[/QUOTE]
Bay of Pigs invasion would've gone fine if Kennedy didn't refuse to give air support, and we were pretty close to getting Osama quite a few times, but supporters in the Pakistani government/military would tip off our plans.
[quote]His mother says she isn't financially able to take legal action but hopes her family's story raises awareness about the treatment she said her son endured.[/quote]
This made me rage more than anything. It's like she should take some kind of legal action but she's poor so she can't fight for her rights. I hope a lawyer sees this story and takes her case for free or something.
[QUOTE=UnknownDude;29891342]I'm going to kill Obama tomorrow at 11 AM. I hope you enjoy your flight trip to Norway, Secret Service man. [/QUOTE]
They did it to Something Awful idiot:
[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29483720/2ijhq2f.png[/img]
[URL]http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3365121[/URL]
More than likely the concern was to see if the kid's parents might be possibly involved in some manner of unlawful activity that the kid accidentally gleamed and they were checking to see what the kid knew. It was possibly also just your typical warning message telling a random kid to becareful, no different from when a police officer would tell a kid to avoid truancy or something like that. Nothing malicious.
[QUOTE=Zeddy;29892783]More than likely the concern was to see if the kid's parents might be possibly involved in some manner of unlawful activity that the kid accidentally gleamed and they were checking to see what the kid knew. It was possibly also just your typical warning message telling a random kid to becareful, no different from when a police officer would tell a kid to avoid truancy or something like that. Nothing malicious.[/QUOTE]
Federal security forces interviewing a 12-ish year old for something he said on the internet.
Logical
[QUOTE=Shibbey;29890966]A 7th grader?
I mean, when you walk into a classroom full of kids, you don't really see many people old enough to be criminal masterminds. Hell, I doubt the kid can even tie his shoe laces properly.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.selectspecs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/dexters-laboratory-glasses.jpg[/img]
Oh really?
With all that shit with the NSA and stuff this post can get snipped to fucking hell and back.
Honestly, it sounds like the kid was worried for Obama.
I am the leader of Al Qaeda and I'm going to bomb all of lower Manhattan with Nuclear Powered Boeing 747 suicide nuke-nuclear plated aircraft, and I'm going to mail a box of anthrax laced shit to president Barrack Obama.
Come at me bro.
[editline]loldicks[/editline]
Did I mention that the 747's had nukes inside them?
I don't blame 'em, yesterday it was Osama. Who's next to blame?
13 YEAR OLDS OF COURSE
[QUOTE=Binladen34;29895363]I am the leader of Al Qaeda and I'm going to bomb all of lower Manhattan with Nuclear Powered Boeing 747 suicide nuke-nuclear plated aircraft, and I'm going to mail a box of anthrax laced shit to president Barrack Obama.
Come at me bro.[/QUOTE]
dont mess with this guy hes serious!!!
Waterboard him! Waterboard him to protect America!!
[QUOTE=Leaf Runner;29895451]dont mess with this guy hes serious!!![/QUOTE]
Your avatar fits so perfectly
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
