Student sentenced to two years for death threats

An 18-year-old student who posted threats on social media was sentenced Thursday to two years in prison. The student threatened to kill an assistant vice principal and a security officer at Beechcroft High School in Columbus.

De’Andre D. Fleming, of the Northeast Side, pleaded guilty in May to a felony charge of inducing panic and two misdemeanor counts of aggravated menacing.

Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Brown imposed the sentence after Fleming apologized in court.

“I’m sincerely sorry for all the chaos I caused at school,” Fleming said.

“This court is always reticent to send someone your Fleming age to prison, but this was egregious and, in this day and age, there has to be punishment for doing something like this,” the judge replied.

Brown said Fleming will be eligible to apply for judicial release and be moved from prison to the county’s community-based correctional facility after six months if he behaves. “But there are no promises about that,” the judge said.

Fleming used an Instagram account to create four threatening posts about the Northeast Side school on Feb. 23 and 24, Assistant Prosecutor Jason Manning said at the plea hearing.

The posts mentioned the last names of an administrator and a security officer, saying they were targeted for death the following Monday between the third and fourth periods.

“If you in the way you dying too,” one of the posts read. “Be ready to die BEECHCROFT”

After Columbus police received complaints about the posts, the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation quickly traced the IP address to Fleming’s home. Fleming confessed when confronted by police.

Although Fleming’s arrest was reported Sunday, Feb. 25, police said 158 students were absent from Beechcroft the next day because of the threats.