Secret Service interrogates Tacoma 7th grader
The young boy was questioned by Secret Service for his Facebook posting.
Dana Rebik
Q13 FOX News
6:36 PM PDT, May 16, 2011
TACOMA
A Tacoma seventh grader faced federal interrogation at school for what he posted on his Facebook page. His mom said it all happened without her knowledge or permission.
Timi Robertson said she had just finished lunch with a friend Friday when she got a phone call from her son's school.
"I answered it, and it's the school security guard who's giving me a heads up that the Secret Service is here with the Tacoma Police Department and they have Vito and they're talking to him," Robertson said.
After Osama bin Laden was killed, 13-year-old Vito LaPinta posted an update to his Facebook status that got the Feds attention.
"I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," says LaPinta.
A week later, while Vito was in his fourth period class, he was called in to the principal's office.
"A man walked in with a suit and glasses and he said he was part of the Secret Service," LaPinta said. "He told me it was because of a post I made that indicated I was a threat toward the President."
The Tacoma school district acknowledged a Secret Service agent questioned Vito and that it was a security guard who called Vito's mom because the principal was on another call. The school district said they didn’t wait for Vito’s mother to get there because they thought she didn't take the phone call seriously.
"That's a blatant lie," Robertson said.
The teen’s mom says she rushed to Truman Middle School immediately and arrived to discover her son had already been questioned for half an hour.
"I just about lost it," she said. "My 13 year-old son is supposed to be safe and secure in his classroom and he's being interrogated without my knowledge or consent privately."
The seventh grader said that once his mom showed up, the agent finished the interview and told him he was not in any trouble. Now he's more careful about what he posts online.
His mother says she isn't financially able to take legal action but hopes her family's story raises awareness about the treatment she said her son endured.
The Seattle branch of the Secret Service did not respond to requests for comment.
Copyright © 2011, KCPQ-TV
(End of story, my comments follow.)
Did anything like this happen when Bush was President? You know, the guy characterized as "Bushitler", the one where a Broadway play's plot had him assassinated, the guy whose face appeared in the middle of a bullesye target on "tee" shirts. That guy.
Do I believe B.O. or his people had a direct hand in this? No. Do I think theres been some sort of directive promulgated that encourages this? You betcha!
I can think of several posts of my own where I've said something about the current Administration a nutcase could take the wrong way. I routinely visit blogs that do more of the same. So why is a 13 yr. old kid grilled by the Feds for stating the obvious? Is it part of a pattern we'll see more of?
I've no doubt that B.O. will get reelected. That won't stop me from enthusiastically posting in favor of whatever rival contender for the Presidency catches my fancy. But I think we're screwed for an additional four years and perhaps longer (I have always had bad feelings about this guy and what he represents.)
So we can expect more of this. Welcome to Amerika, comrades. See you in the reeducation camps.
I don't think Obama is going to be reelected with the way the economy has gone south since he's been president and hasn't recovered because of his policies. People aren't buying the blame Bush game anymore (except the far Left and we couldn't count on their votes anyway). The gas prices are starting to hit peoples' pocketbooks hard and people will blame the Party in charge, the President at the time. I don't think that its a slam dunk for the GOP but I think they have a great chance at winning the presidency back in 2012. Obama is worse than Carter and that is opening a lot of peoples' eyes.
ReplyDeleteThis is so typical of this administration. Obama will negotiate with the Taliban, kiss every Muslim ass in the US and abroad, and totally ignore the illegals---which include muslim terrorists who cross the Mexican border illegally and then they go after a 7th grade kid.
ReplyDeleteThat line didn't seem the least bit threatening, if anything it sounded as if he was concerned for the President's well-being.
His mother should be angry...they had absolutely no right to question the kid in the absence of the parents.
You could bet if the kid was a Muslim, he would never have been questioned at all.
Just like the 8 month old babies, 4 year old white girl, older senior citizens etc....who all happen to be white, are being pulled over for the pat down by TSA, but a Muslim man who charges the pilot door in an airplane, they never gave him a second-look.