A Moreno Valley youth suspected of leaving threatening phone messages with racial overtones for a fellow student was under arrest Friday.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, deputies received a report Wednesday night that a student had been the target of harassment by a fellow student at an unnamed high school in the area.
Sheriff’s Sgt. Jomar Vanderhoof alleged that the suspect, identified only as a 17-year-old juvenile, had been calling the victim, also not identified, making threats that “rose to the level of a hate crime.”
The threats weren’t specified by the sergeant, nor were the races of the parties involved.
Vanderhoof said that investigators confirmed the “messages that the victim received were a credible threat” to the student’s safety.
A search warrant was obtained and served at the residence of the alleged harasser in the 15000 block of Ninya Avenue, where the suspect was taken into custody without incident and later booked into Riverside Juvenile Hall on suspicion of making criminal threats with a hate crime allegation.
No other details were disclosed.