Thursday, October 17, 2013

Two girls charged in case of bullied Florida girl who committed suicide

Rebecca Sedwick, 12, jumped to her death from a third-story cement plant structure in central Florida on Sept. 10 after being verbally, physically and cyber bullied throughout 2012 and 2013. Two girls were arrested on Monday in connection with her death and charged with aggravated stalking.

By Elisha Fieldstadt, NBC News

Two girls, ages 12 and 14, have been charged with aggravated stalking for what a Florida sheriff described Tuesday as "maliciously harassing" a 12-year-old girl who jumped from a tower to her death. 

The middle school students were booked into a juvenile detention center on Monday night and released to their parents under house arrest, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Rebecca Sedwick, 12, jumped to her death from a third-story cement plant structure in central Florida on Sept. 10 after being verbally, physically and cyber bullied throughout 2012 and 2013, Judd said.

Rebecca Sedwick's mother says she jumped to her death after being terrorized online.  NBC's Charles Hadlock reports.

At a Tuesday news conference, Judd said investigators were in the midst of gathering information from social media sites about the bullies’ interactions with Sedwick, but a Facebook post by the 14-year-old which read, “yes I bullied Rebecca and she killed herself, but I don’t give a (expletive)” prompted Monday's arrests.



Judd said detectives arrested the 12-year-old, who was one of Sedwick’s “primary” bullies, because they decided, “We can’t leave her out there. Who else is she going to torment, who else is she going to harass?” 

While bullying is not a crime, Judd said, the girls have been charged with aggravated stalking — a third degree felony — because the victim was younger than 16 years old.

In addition to the 14-year-old's Facebook confession, Judd said both girls made "incriminating statements" when they were arrested. 

He said the girls’ case would proceed in the juvenile system and any punishment would depend on juvenile sanctions, adding, “it won’t be severe enough, in my estimation, for this conduct.”

Judd said the 14-year-old started to “torment” Sedwick in 2012 and according to a Polk County Sheriff’s statement, other children at the school also started bullying Sedwick to avoid being bullied themselves. The 12-year-old was Sedwick’s former “best friend,” Judd said.

Sedwick’s mother removed her daughter from the school, but the bullying continued online, where the 14-year-old wrote harassing insults, including that Sedwick should “kill herself” and “drink bleach and die,” Judd said.

“We believe that it certainly contributed to [Sedwick] jumping from the cement towers,” Judd said.

Related:

Cyberbullying investigated in death of Florida girl

 

Brian Blanco, AP

Pallbearers wearing anti-bullying t-shirts carry the casket of Rebecca Sedwick, 12, on Sept. 16, 2013. Two girls, ages 12 and 14, who admitted to bullying Sedwick before she committed suicide, were arrested on Monday and charged with aggravated stalking.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/327dd7d8/sc/16/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C10A0C150C20A9755260Etwo0Egirls0Echarged0Ein0Ecase0Eof0Ebullied0Eflorida0Egirl0Ewho0Ecommitted0Esuicide0Dlite/story01.htm
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