San Diego Criminal Attorneys Blog
A local student attending Mira Costa College in Oceanside has been arrested by police for his involvement with death threats sent via text message to a handful of other students from El Camino High School. Soon after the detectives believe the texts were sent in March of 2013, a deadly ambush took place at Libby Lake Park in Oceanside. A day before this incident, a fatal shooting at the same park left a 13-year-old girl dead, a 15-year-old boy dead, and two other adolescents injured. The victims of this shooting were visiting a memorial at the park for two of their friends who were killed at the park in May of 2011, when they were shot and left dead. The El Camino students received texts warning them that if they did not stop talking about the killings that occurred at Libby Lake park that they would be killed too According to reports, 18-year-old Samuel Ruiz was arrested for suspicion of making criminal threats, cyber-bullying, and possessing an illegal weapon on the Mira Costa campus. According to police Lt. Leonard Cosby, Ruiz has since denied any involvement, however detectives believe that Ruiz is behind the texts using a fake name “Bart Chang”. Cosby also stated that Ruiz subsequently admitted to police Detective Mark LaVake that he was indeed “Bart Chang” and that there has been no apparent personal connections between the victims of the threats and Ruiz. After posting a $50,000 bail, Ruiz was released from jail. Before going to court, Ruiz will definitely need to retain an experienced criminal defense attorney as he is facing serious charges that can result in serious legal consequences if not handled by a skilled professional.
Sources:
“College student linked to threatening texts”– UT San Diego, January 22, 2014