Two Teens Cleared of Felony Charges in Bullying Case
Two Florida girls, one 13 and one 14, have had felony charges dropped in a bullying case that sprang up following 12-year-old Rebecca Sedwick's suicide in September. In an interview with Today, 13-year-old Katelyn Roman expressed relief at the decision and said, "I do not feel l did anything wrong."
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd made headlines last month when he charged Roman and Guadalupe Shaw with third-degree aggravated stalking after Sedwick, a girl the duo had allegedly harassed, leapt from a factory tower to her death. Several weeks after Sedwick's suicide, Shaw allegedly wrote on her Facebook wall, "Yes [I know] I bullied Rebecca nd she killed her self but [I don't give a fuck]." That message, said Judd at the time, "forced" him to arrest the girls.
Now that the Florida state attorney has dropped all charges against Roman and Shaw, for reasons it won't release because the girls are juveniles, Judd told reporters he's "exceptionally pleased with the outcome of the case."
"We see the children are going to get the services they need,'' Judd told reporters, referring to both girls being in counseling. "That's the best outcome for juveniles. Our goal is that these kids never bully anyone again."
Not so pleased are the formerly accused teens' parents, who feel that Judd opened up their daughters to a world of criticism based on unfounded claims.
"It was uncalled for for Grady Judd to go up there and throw her picture up there and people coming to my house and trying to come and threaten my family, threaten me on the phone, threaten me at my house, I mean it was just crazy the way he did that," Katelyn Roman's father told Today.
An attorney for the Romans says the family is now considering legal action against Judd.