MONROE COUNTY, Mich. — Homecoming is supposed to be a fun night for students, but on last Saturday, a Bedford High School student received a text that changed the entire trajectory of the night.
"One of our students, as she was entering the dance, received a digital message from an ex-boyfriend that he knew she was at the dance and she should watch herself because he knew there was going to be an issue there," said Bedford Superintendent Carl Shultz.
As soon as Shultz and his team found out about the text, they got in touch with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and other first responders to immediately check on the threat.
"It was deemed this young man was not an active threat and was not on our campus at that moment," Shultz said.
He added that the district soon learned the student wasn't even in Michigan at the time of the threat. He lived in Ohio and law enforcement went to his home to speak with him.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the student still hasn't been charged.
Meanwhile, Shultz says the dance ended up continuing, albeit under the supervision of multiple deputies.
The night was salvaged, but it doesn't make the interruption any less frustrating.
"Every time something like this happens, it either slows down the educational process or the event that's going on, there's a lot of precautionary stuff that goes into it," Shultz said.
It's not the first-time sheriff's deputies have had to show up to high schools in Monroe County for threats, either.
Mason Consolidated Schools and the Whiteford Agricultural School District have had similar experiences recently.
On Sept. 17, Erie-Mason High School closed its doors for the day after a student posted a threat online, which law enforcement says turned out to be a copycat of a post circulating around other Michigan schools.
The week prior, police say a 15-year-old Whiteford student was arrested after making a threat of gun violence in a group chat and a small caliber rifle was seized from her home.
The superintendent of Dundee Community Schools said the district has also received a social media threat since the start of the school year, which turned out to be non-credible.
"It's really taxed our resources," said Monroe County Sheriff Troy Goodnough, whose officers have responded to many of these recent incidents.
Goodnough said it's time to take action to put a stop to these threats. He is working with the Monroe County prosecutor and all nine school districts and their superintendents to send out a message to all the students and parents of the county:
"Be cautious what you say. You may make a comment off the cuff and the consequences of that comment could be very, very serious," he said.
Goodnough added that depending on what you say and the severity of the threat, charges could vary anywhere between a misdemeanor all the way up to a felony.
The sheriff also warned parents they could be held liable, too.
"Our prosecutor is committed to holding everyone involved accountable, including the parents or guardians," Goodnough said.