Several children in the Walton Central School District have been targeted by an unknown person who used Facebook to spread pornography, tag pictures of dead children with the names of local students, and threaten to reenact the Sandy Hook shootings in Walton.
Local residents have also been using Facebook to warn each other about the messages and urge their friends not to accept new friend requests through the site. The harasser has been using several accounts, including "Anthony McCool," "Cody Haha F," and "Cody Farwell." At least one of the accounts appears to have belonged to an innocent Facebook user whose account was hacked.
As recently as Sunday night, one account -- "Cody Farwell" -- was still active, and displaying a recent threat:
Above: A threatening message posted on Saturday by a harasser posing on Facebook as "Cody Farwell." Names in the message have been redacted.
Walton Central School District Superintendent George Mack said that he was first made aware of the situation over the weekend.
But Lisa Beers, a parent with three children in the district and another who has graduated, told the Watershed Post that the harassment of local children has been going on at least since early in the week, when a friend of one of her children began receiving a flood of pornographic messages through Facebook.
"The more she blocked him and tried to get him to leave her alone, the more sick things he would say," Beers said. "Shortly after, there was a picture that came on Facebook of a naked man and his penis."
Beers said that the girl and her family did not report the harassment, but that on Thursday, when disturbing images began showing up on many other local people's Facebook feeds, other parents began contacting police.
Both the Delaware County Sheriff's Office and the New York State Police told the Watershed Post on Sunday night that the Village of Walton Police Department was leading the investigation into the incident. Walton village police could not be reached for comment, and the phone number for the village department was forwarded to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office.
Late on Sunday night, the Walton Central School District sent a recorded phone message to parents in the district:
The Walton Central School District is aware of the threats to some children on Facebook. There has been some reporting of the matter discussed on WBNG.com. Because of the threats, there is a multi-police investigation of this matter. Police will be taking extra precautions. In addition, the school will be using different security protocols during the day. All after-school activities are cancelled.
When reached by phone on Sunday, Mack would not give details on the school's security plan or say whether police officers would be stationed at the school on Monday morning.
Before this incident, Walton was already a town haunted by the threat of school violence. In 1992, student Jason Hodge took out a .22 rifle during English class and shot his teacher, Virginia Wilcox, in the face. Wilcox survived. In May of 2012, two adult Walton residents were arrested by village police on weapons charges, in connection with an alleged plot by a student to bring a handgun to school.
For Beers, and for many longtime Walton residents, any threat of school violence brings up old memories.
"I was in school [when Wilcox was shot]. Mrs. Wilcox was my English teacher," she said.
Beers said she will not send her children back to school until the incident is fully investigated.
"If I have to go to school and pick up their assigments and homeschool them til that happens, I will," she said. "Certainly this kind of a threat -- so open, so public of a threat -- could easily be carried out."
An article published Sunday afternoon on WBNG.com quoted several Walton parents who would speak only anonymously about the issue. Of the police response, WBNG writes:
Police have confirmed that they are looking into this.
Update, 1/7, 11:20am: A news article on the website of Oneonta radio station WSRK 103.9 FM quoted Walton village police chief Brian Laauser, speaking to a reporter on Monday morning. Laauser said the department has no suspects yet, but has identified several "people of interest":
“People are aware there has been a threat over Facebook of harm to children specific to Walton,” Laauser said. “I had my department step up presence at both Walton and Walton Head Start just as a precautionary and safety factor. The case is still ongoing. We have several people of interest but no definitive suspect at this point. We’re having help from the [Delaware County] sheriff’s department as well as the state police.”
The article reports that many Walton students stayed home today, and that the school is on lock out, meaning that no one may enter the building.
