Police have arrested and charged a 59 year old art teacher after discovering that she had slipped handwritten threatening notes into three different classrooms in a middle school in St. Clair Shores, Michigan.
Johnna Rhône, an art teacher at Jefferson Middle School, has been arrested and charged for allegedly distributing disturbing notes at the school warning that it would be bombed by a terrorist.
One of the notes allegedly read: “Start break early. He’s gonna do it. Just don’t be in the hall after lunch. Boom. Get it?”
The handwritten notes were found in a classroom, the library, and the school’s media center, according to Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido. Police were immediately alerted when the notes were found. Upon reviewing surveillance video at the school, Rhône was arrested.
Lucido read one of the notes at a news conference, and stated: “I can expect something like this from a child, not an adult.”
Rhône was arraigned in court via Zoom on December 20th. As an investigator read his testimony, she repeatedly whispered “not true” into the microphone, causing Judge Joseph Oster to ask her attorney, Andrew Leone, to instruct her to remain silent.
Following the hearing, FOX 2 spoke to Rhône’s attorney, Andrew Leone.
“She’s denying these allegations. She’s flat-out denying them,” said Leone.
In the two weeks following the mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan, approximately 100 students have been arrested for making false threats, according to FOX 2. But prosecutors say that this is the first time they have charged an adult, let alone a teacher who is trusted with the job of protecting children at school.
“We take a zero-tolerance, make no mistake about it,” said Lucido. “A zero-tolerance in Macomb County, from students and teachers that are threatening others. We will not leave that at all.”
“The superintendent came out and said he saw no plausible threat,” Leone said. “He saw words on a piece of paper, with nothing to back it up. That’s what I gather from the article, so I don’t think there is any threat to this particular community or the kids of this community.”
Johnna Rhône will be on house arrest until her court hearing, which will take place in February of 2022.
