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Boy Pleads Guilty to Online Harassment

A 12-year-old Bentonville boy, arrested back in January, pleads guilty to four counts of misdemeanor harassment.

A 12-year-old Bentonville boy, arrested back in January, pleads guilty to four counts of misdemeanor harassment.

This comes after he created a Twitter account on January 14th. He used the account to post offensive statements about some Bentonville High School students. His Twitter account, called 'Freezebook,' is not the first incident of cyber bullying in the district.

Bentonville police found and arrested the 12-year-old after an investigation into profane comments made about high school students through another Twitter account called 'Burnbook10.' Three teenage girls are accused of creating that Twitter account back in October. The girls are currently awaiting their court date.

The district is concerned about cyber bullying but Bentonville Superintendent, Michael Poore, says they are cracking down on it.

"Our own filters within our system usually do a pretty good job protecting inside the school," says Poore. "These things that were going on in terms of the twitter account were actually happening outside the school district."

Circuit Judge Mark Fryauf ordered the boy not to have any access to the Internet. The boy's attorney, Tyler Benson, requested an exception for the boy to have access to the Internet for school. Fryauf granted the exception.

"I believe that the student does need that access to be able to move forward," says Poore. "But at the same time, I think that the punishment is appropriate for him not to be able to have the social interaction that is more in the side away from school."

5NEWS contacted the boy's attorney for a comment but at the request of the family, Benson was unable to give one at this time.

Bentonville does not have an alternative school at the junior high level. This means, if the boy is expelled, home school may be his only option.

The 12-year-old is on juvenile probation for one year and must perform almost 100 hours of community service. He will also need to undergo counseling.

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