A Bethlehem man is in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $200,000 bail after he allegedly threatened the members of the Bethlehem Area School Board and top district administrators while posting on a Facebook discussion page.
Justin Rey Ramirez, 19, of 2007 Mary St., faces 12 counts of terroristic threats as a result of his posts on a discussion page titled: “Short sighted administrators are causing turmoil in education,” according to the arrest affidavit.
“Ramirez posted several comments, one which is threatening,” the warrant says. The allegedly threatening post: “I got the weapons lets just kill the school board.”
Among some of his other posts, according to the court papers: “We should just blow up the schools …,” “I shall fight by your side … to my bloody heart pops like a spilled cup of tea … kill kill kill murda murda murda!” and “press them with knifes guns bombs to get people to think just go up to people and say sign this or die lmfao.”
The last comment, the warrant says, was a response to a post relating to a petition drive aimed at protesting the in the Bethlehem Area School District.
According to the warrant, Gayle Justice, a teacher at , reported the comments to Cathy Moore, the school’s assistant principal, presenting her with a four-page printout of the Facebook discussion on Tuesday morning.
The warrant alleges that the threats were made against the nine members of the Bethlehem Area School Board, Superintendent Joseph J. Roy, Stacy M. Gober, assistant to the superintendent for finance and administration, and Mary Ann Cacciola, the board’s interim treasurer.
The affidavit makes no mention of whether any of these people were named personally in any of Ramirez’s alleged threats.
Ramirez was preliminarily arraigned Tuesday evening before, who was the night duty magistrate. A preliminary hearing on the case has been scheduled on June 9 before .
