Prosecutors: South Burlington student admitted sending threat

BURLINGTON — The South Burlington High School student accused of making a series of escalating threats last week has admitted sending at least one of them, according to court filings.

Josiah Leach, 18, was arrested late Friday and held through the weekend. He faces a felony charge in federal court of “knowingly transmitting in interstate commerce a communication that includes a threat to injure the person or another.” The charge carries up to a five-year prison sentence.

In an affidavit establishing probable cause for the charge, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Vander Veer, who investigates cyber crime, laid out how Leach allegedly made eight threats via email, Facebook and phone over a four-day period last week.

The threats led to heightened security and three days of lockdowns at South Burlington High School before district officials eventually canceled school districtwide on Friday.

At an initial court appearance Monday, District Judge Christina Reiss granted the U.S. attorney’s request for more time to build a case for detaining Leach pending resolution of his case. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

In a motion arguing for Leach’s detention, the U.S. attorney for Vermont argued that the region “has rarely, if ever, seen a crime of violence affecting as many people” as the threats Leach is accused of making. Federal law defines a crime of violence to include “threatened use of physical force,” according to the filing.

Leach allegedly told police he sent at least one of the threatening emails, according to the filing. He also claimed to have destroyed cellphones identified in a search warrant, but later reversed that claim when told police had a warrant. The phones were discovered in his bedroom, according to the filing.

Though police found no weapons while searching his home, and Leach has never been convicted of a crime, the government’s motion states that, if released, “it is reasonable to believe that, based on his prior behavior, (Leach) would again resort to threats.”

Although he has no convictions, Leach has been arrested several times, including during a 2014 burglary in progress in Burlington, according to the government’s motion.

Leach told police during the same interview that he never intended to hurt anyone, according to the motion. “The veracity of that claim is dubious, however, in light of other self-serving lies he made during the same interview,” the U.S. attorney writes.

Speaking after Monday’s hearing, acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles declined to comment as to whether there is any evidence Leach intended to make good on the threats he is accused of sending. Cowles cited an ongoing investigation.

Leach is being represented by Elizabeth Quinn with the federal public defender’s office. He was led into court by law enforcement with his hands cuffed behind his back. Leach responded quietly in the affirmative to Judge Reiss when she asked if he understood the charge and his rights.

Leach allegedly used three different internet-connected devices, including a school laptop; fake email and Facebook accounts;and a virtual private network, which encrypts a user’s IP address on public networks, to send threats to school staff and police, according to the FBI’s affidavit.

Screen shots taken by school IT staff show that Leach’s South Burlington High School Google Apps account created seven draft versions of an initial threat April 18 within 30 seconds to a minute of when the threats were sent over a virtual private network using a Microsoft Outlook account, the affidavit says. The Google Apps account can be used to look up school emails, which use Microsoft Outlook.

That initial threat stated, “I’m going to kill you and all your students soon at south Burlington high school in Vermont. I’m coming for you. Good luck to you all. I’m coming today, and if not today, I’ll kill you all tomorrow. Take it as a joke or message, either way it’s fate.”

Over the next three days, the threats became more specific, culminating in an email Thursday and video Friday, which were widely circulated online, naming five teachers and 11 students on a “murder list.” Leach’s name is on that list.

Police and prosecutors have given no motive for the threats. The email and video targeting specific students and staff concludes, “THIS COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED FROM KEEPING THE REBEL NAME.”

That refers to a decision earlier this year by the South Burlington School Board to retire the Rebels name for school athletics.

The board chose to do away with the Rebels moniker, at the urging of several students and community members, because of its associations with the Confederacy and American slavery. That prompted a vigorous backlash from a group of residents who argued that the name is dissociated from that historical context.

Several of the people named in the threats were active in pushing for the Rebels name to be dropped.

At the same time, a post made Wednesday from a Facebook account in the name “JoJo Leach (Josiah),” which appears to be Leach’s actual account, congratulates a South Burlington student leader active in the effort to have the name dropped. “Keep up the good work bro i respect your movements and what you’re doing,” the user wrote.

The same account also shared a version of the video threat posted to Facebook by another user, and shared several news reports on the threats as they were occurring last week.

The video threat was initially posted to Facebook on Friday by the account taylor.isabelle.5496, which is “associated with a user in Plattsburgh, New York,” according to the affidavit. Leach communicated with that user from his own Facebook account on Wednesday, the affidavit says.

In the video, a young person whose face is blurred can be seen standing in what appears to be a bedroom. The audio is voice modulated and relays a statement that is virtually identical to the email containing the “murder list.”

A number of people posting on social media about the incident have questioned why police have not arrested the person in the video, with some speculating the video was created for another purpose and dubbed over with the threatening message.

In an emailed threat sent Thursday to three South Burlington school email accounts, the sender described the previous threats as “only a test” and included the “SBHS” murder list naming students and teachers.

The email was sent from an IP address that matched a FairPoint Communications account opened in August 2016 by Leach’s brother, according to the affidavit.

In an emailed threat Wednesday, the sender chided officials for not taking the initial threat seriously. The email also states, “We wasn’t joking. Essex only got lucky,” according to the affidavit.

The previous week, on April 12, Essex High School was locked down after someone called in gun and bomb threats. No arrests were made in that case, and South Burlington police have said they were investigating possible connections between the two incidents.

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