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Ripon student faces criminal charges related to threatening note

Posted at 1:22 PM, Dec 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-10 14:22:35-05

RIPON (NBC 26) -- A Ripon High School student is accused of writing a note threatening to kill people and leaving it in a school bathroom.

18-year-old Lillian Cavell has been charged with making a terrorist threat. She is also charged with disorderly conduct.

According to a criminal complaint, a student found a note in a bathroom stall at Ripon High School last Wednesday. The note had a list of 17 students and one teacher, the complaint says, and the top of the list said “Gonna [expletive] kill them.”

The student brought the note to a school resource officer. Prosecutors say both Ripon High School and Middle School were placed on a soft lockdown, restricting students to their classrooms. The students named on the found note, including Cavell, were located and brought to a secure area, a school community room. The students were either later released to their parents or escorted by police to their vehicles. The complaint states Cavell appeared to be recording a video on her phone while in the secure area.

The criminal complaint says investigators looked at video surveillance and noted Cavell entering the bathroom where the note was found. The complaint also says school staff provided samples of Cavell’s handwriting, which investigators believed looked similar to the handwriting of the found note.

When officers interviewed Cavell, the complaint says she denied writing the note, saying the people listed on the note were her friends. According to court documents, Cavell was also asked to provide writing samples, which appeared different from the writing style she uses in her school work. The criminal complaint states investigators suspect she was trying to change or cover up her writing style.

At one point, Cavell stated in the complaint that she was having issues in math class and didn’t do well on part one of a math test that day. The complaint says Cavell then stated, “now I won’t have to come tomorrow to do part two.”

The complaint also states that paper found in Cavell’s notebook was the same type of paper used to write the note. Cavell continued to deny writing the note.

Cavell made her initial court appearance on Tuesday. If convicted, she could face more than three years in prison and up to $11,000 in fines.