Nebraska Deputy Sheriff Arrested For School Threats

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Published Saturday
October 7, 2006

Holt County sheriff's deputy arrested in school threat

BY PAUL HAMMEL



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

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LINCOLN - Two months ago, just after taking a part-time sheriff's deputy job, Ivan Young signed the state's new "code of ethics" for law enforcement officers.


Ivan D. Young

Among the pledges made by the 41-year-old Beatrice man: he would not "engage in any illegal or unlawful harassment or intimidation of another."

Young, a deputy sheriff in Holt County, was sitting in jail Friday in Rock County, arrested on suspicion of telephoning a threat about a school shooting to a Bassett, Neb., newspaper. He was being held on a charge of making a terroristic threat, a felony.

Authorities said Young used his personal cell phone to make the threatening call - a call that was traced using local telephone company records.

Deb Collins, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol, said she had no information on what motivated the threatening call.

The small-town newspaper editor who took the threatening call said she was still frightened Friday. She was concerned that the caller allegedly was a law enforcement officer.

"That scares me about what message that sends to kids. Who can they trust?" said Mariel Fegley, editor of the Rock County Leader.

The threatening phone call, made at 1 p.m. Wednesday, came on the heels of deadly school shootings at rural schools in Colorado and Pennsylvania.

It prompted the immediate lockdown of schools in a 5,000-square-mile area of north-central Nebraska, including Rock, Brown and Holt Counties.

Area schools were again locked down Thursday, and some local athletic contests were postponed due to word of another threat that was eventually discredited.

Young was arrested late Thursday night.

As news of the arrest spread, planned lockdowns were called off, and parents and school administrators expressed shock as well as relief.

"Maybe the schools can get back into a sense of normalcy," said O'Neill City Clerk Nikki Johnston, who praised local schools for their security response.

Bill Muldoon, director of Nebraska's Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island, said he could not comment specifically about Young's case.

But, he said, a felony conviction would result in the revocation of a law enforcement officer's certificate. A review board also may revoke certification for serious misdemeanors and violations of the code of ethics, adopted a year ago, Muldoon said.

Young had worked on and off as a part-time police officer in Randolph and Tekamah since obtaining his state certificate in 1988.

From 2004 to September, he had worked for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System as a "psych tech" at centers in Beatrice and Lincoln.

A check of state criminal records showed only one entry for Young - a 1999 misdemeanor charge for writing a bad check of less than $100. The charge was dismissed.

Young was required to sign the code of ethics when he resumed his law enforcement work, Muldoon said.


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Sorry this is a week late. I'm usually on top of these things!

[ghost98]

Another black eye....

[CopsRCool302]

Yeah I heard about this, sad huh? people like that give the cops a bad name. isn't it sad though, that the media can exploit a bad cop and make everyone aware of it, but when a Officer is killed in the line of duty it is never remembered?

This is sad..

[Crimebytes2]

Another black eye....

Not according to us LEO supporters. I, for one, do not judge all by the actions of one or a few.

[Emily]

Come on, cut him some slack... he just wanted to cause some excitement. Because if you haven't noticed, Nebraska is lacking in that department.

I kid, I kid.