Nicole Higgins DeSmet, and Adam Silverman

Burlington Free Press





SOUTH BURLINGTON - The FBI and South Burlington police arrested an 18-year-old South Burlington High School student in connection with a series of escalating death threats against school officials and students.

Josiah Leach was taken into custody on Friday at 8:25 p.m. on a federal criminal complaint that accuses him of knowingly transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, city police Chief Trevor Whipple said in a late-Friday news conference.

The charges carry a possible five-year sentence according to Eugenia A.P. Cowles the acting U.S. Attorney for Vermont. Leach will be held pending a court hearing next week at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, according to Vermont Corrections Department records.

“Mr. Leach will be appointed counsel if appropriate at his hearing on Monday,” Cowles wrote in an email to the Burlington Free Press late Friday night. “I have not been contacted by anyone indicating they represent him at this time.”

Whipple said at the news conference that he would not comment on a motive, but he paid tribute to the coalition of local and federal law enforcement, aided by cyber-security experts and internet providers, who cracked the case.

"The electronic trail was a huge help to us," he said.

Leach's name appears on an emailed "hit list" of students and staff targeted in the threats.

EARLIER:

The threats sent out via email this week from Tuesday to Friday escalated in intensity as cyber crime experts closed in on Leach.

A Thursday email, which the Burlington Free Press obtained, mentioned the decision to change the high school's Rebel team name. "THIS COULD’VE BEEN PREVENTED FROM KEEPING THE REBEL NAME. NOW I’m gonna have to attack you all. I don’t care for my own life as long as you’re all dead!!!!!," the email read.

The threats culminated in a video circulated on social media that showed an individual repeating the murder threat against five staff members and 11 students at South Burlington High School.

City Manager Kevin Dorn, who was at the briefing, said:

"I want to express my greatest appreciation to the hard-working men and women of the South Burlington police department, a number of whom worked worked shifts as long as 20 hours and were clearly working around the clock to address this threat to our community."

He also praised the work and leadership of Whipple and his deputy Chief Edwards and South Burlington School District Superintendent David Young.

The Criminal Complaint, which was filed at 4:46 p.m. on April 21, shows the evolution of the investigation which uncovered multiple devices and email accounts that were created and used to send the threats. In each case the accounts were traced to the suspect.

"The problem we have here doesn't erase what happened," Whipple said. He hoped the message was "loud and clear" as he warned any copycats, "We will bring all forces to bear."