Bail set at $500K for accused cyberbully
By Teri Figueroa4:34 p.m.Jan. 28, 2014
VISTA CA— An 18-year-old man accused of sending online death threats to El Camino High students in Oceanside the day after two teens were gunned down in a city park pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Samuel Ruiz was arrested last week at MiraCosta College, where he was taking a class, after Oceanside police detectives linked him to messages sent shortly after a deadly ambush at Libby Lake Park in March.
Ruiz posted $50,000 bail and was released from jail after his arrest in the cyberbullying case. But during his arraignment Tuesday in Vista Superior Court, Ruiz’s bail was raised to $500,000 by Judge Marshall Hockett and the defendant was taken into custody.
He is charged with making a criminal threat, and faces a sentence of up to three years and eight months if convicted.
Oceanside police said the threatening messages were sent March 14, a day after two teens were fatally shot and two of their friends were injured during an ambush at the park. The messages were sent to several high school students and told them they would be killed if they did not stop talking about the Libby Lake killings, police said.
Detectives initially suspected Ruiz was behind the messages, which were sent by someone who went by the name “Bart Chang,” but Ruiz denied any involvement, police said.
Then, in late December, an El Camino High student received a message from a “Bart Chang” stating the student would be killed when school started up after winter break.
The investigation led detectives to Ruiz, who was arrested on the MiraCosta campus on Jan. 21. During the arrest, he was found carrying a spring-loaded knife, an illegal weapon, police said.
Ruiz has no apparent connections to those who received the threats or to the five gang members accused in the killings of Melanie Virgen, 13, and Edgar Sanchez, 15, at Libby Lake Park.
The teens were shot and killed at the park when they were sitting by a makeshift memorial for two friends who had been killed at the park in May 2011.
via Bail set at $500K for accused cyberbully | UTSanDiego.com.