Police arrest two Florida teens after bullied classmate commits suicide

Two girls who police in central Florida say were primarily responsible for bullying a 12-year-old girl who killed herself were arrested after one of them acknowledged the harassment online, a sheriff said Tuesday. Both girls were charged as juveniles with third-degree felony aggravated stalking. 

Police in Winter Haven, Fla., have been investigating the death of the 12-year-old, Rebecca Sedwick, who climbed a tower at an abandoned concrete plant Sept. 9 and jumped to her death. Authorities said that as many as 15 girls may have bullied her and that the investigation was continuing.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the arrests of the girls, ages 14 and 12, were hastened after the older girl posted Saturday on Facebook that she bullied Rebecca but didn't care.

"We decided that we can't leave her out there. Who else is she going to torment?Who else is she going to harass?" Judd said.

The 14-year-old was accused of threatening to beat up Rebecca while they were sixth-graders at Crystal Lake Middle School, telling her "to drink bleach and die" and saying she should kill herself, the sheriff said.

The older girl convinced the other 12-year-old to bully Rebecca, and the two repeatedly intimidated her and called her names, and once the 12-year-old even beat up Rebecca, police said.

If the girls are convicted of the charges, it's not clear how much time, if any, they would spend in juvenile detention because they do not have any previous criminal history, the sheriff said.

"Time may not be the best trainer here. We've got to change this behavior of these children," Judd said.

The sheriff's office identified the two girls, but The Associated Press generally does not name juveniles charged with crimes.

Judd said the bullying began after the 14-year-old started dating a boy Rebecca had been seeing. The older girl didn't like Rebecca's connection to him and "began to harass and ultimately torment Rebecca," Judd said.

A man who answered the phone at the 14-year-old's Lakeland mobile home said he was her father and told The Associated Press, "None of it's true."

"My daughter's a good girl, and I'm 100 percent sure that whatever they're saying about my daughter is not true," he said.

At the home in Lakeland, a city of about 100,000 midway between Tampa and Orlando, a barking pit bull stood guard, and no one appeared outside, despite shouts from reporters for an interview.

Neighbor George Colom said he had never interacted with the girl but noticed her playing roughly with other children on the street.

"Kids getting beat up, kids crying," he said. "The kids hang loose, unsupervised all the time."

A telephone message left at the 12-year-old's home was not immediately returned, and no one answered the door.

The girls were arrested Monday night and released to their parents' custody. Judd said the 14-year-old was "very cold, had no emotion at all upon her arrest." The girls remain on home detention.

The younger girl was once Rebecca's best friend, but the sheriff said the older girl turned her and others against Rebecca out of fear they would be bullied too.

Before her death, Rebecca changed one of her online names to That Dead Girl, and she messaged a boy in North Carolina, "I'm jumping." Detectives found some of her diaries at her home, and she wrote of how depressed she was about the situation.

In December Rebecca was hospitalized for three days after cutting her wrists because of what she said was bullying, according to the sheriff. Later, after Rebecca complained that she had been pushed in a hallway and that another girl wanted to fight her, her mother began home-schooling her in Lakeland, Judd said.

This fall, Rebecca started at a new school, Lawton Chiles Middle Academy, but the bullying continued online, authorities said.

Judd said he was upset the girls who were arrested still had access to social networks, even after Rebecca's suicide.

"If we can find any charges we can bring against their parents, we will," Judd said.

The Associated Press