On behalf of Raymond Giudice P.C posted in Criminal Defense on Thursday, October 17. 2013.
Winter Haven, FLA. – Two Florida girls who were primarily responsible for bullying a 12-year-old girl who killed herself were arrested after one of them acknowledged the harassment online, a sheriff said Tuesday.
Police in central Florida have been investigating the death of 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick, who climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant Sept. 9, and hurled herself to her death. Authorities said as many as 15 girls may have bullied Rebecca, and the investigation was continuing.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the arrests of the girls, ages 14 and 12, were hastened when the older girl posted Saturday on Facebook, saying she bullied Rebecca but she didn’t care.
“We decided that we can’t leave her out there. Who else is she going to torment, who else is she going to harass?” Judd said.
The 14-year-old girl was accused of threatening to beat up Rebecca while they were sixth-graders at Crystal Lake Middle School, telling her “to drink bleach and die” and saying she should kill herself, the sheriff said. The older girl persuaded the younger girl to bully Rebecca, and they both repeatedly intimidated her and called her names, and once the younger girl even beat Rebecca up, police said.
Both girls were charged as juveniles with third-degree felony aggravated stalking. If convicted, it’s not clear how much time, if any at all, the girls would spend in juvenile detention because they had no previous criminal history, the sheriff said.
“Time may not be the best trainer here. We’ve got to change this behavior of these children,” Judd said.
Judd said the bullying began after the 14-year-old girl started dating a boy Rebecca had been seeing. The older girl didn’t like that and “began to harass and ultimately torment Rebecca,” Judd said.
A man who answered the phone at the 14-year-old’s Lakeland home said he was her father and “none of it’s true.”
“My daughter’s a good girl, and I’m 100 percent sure that whatever they’re saying about my daughter is not true,” he said.
At the mobile home, a barking dog stood guard and no one came outside despite shouts from reporters for an interview.
Neighbor George Colom said he had never interacted personally with the girl, but noticed her playing roughly with other children on the street.
“Kids getting beat up, kids crying,” Colom said. “The kids hang loose unsupervised all the time.”
A telephone message left at the 12-year-old girl’s home was not immediately returned, and no one answered the door to her home.
SOURCE: Atlanta Journal Constitution, “2 girls accused in Fla. bullying case,” Jennifer Kay & Mike Schneider, October 16, 2013.
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