The district’s own investigation regarding the alleged February shooting threat differs from the county prosecutor’s records.
Information released following the arrest of 18-year-old Jacob Finkelstein, who allegedly threatened to “shoot up” Eastern Regional High School in February, shows the school district’s investigation and Camden County Prosecutor’s investigation reached very different conclusions.
Harold Melleby, Jr, superintendent of Eastern Regional High School District, posted a letter on the district’s website Friday addressing what he describes as the “misunderstanding” surrounding the alleged shooting threat made upon Eastern Regional High School in February. Melleby released the letter on behalf of the board of education.
According to letter, Eastern’s administration found in its own investigation that “no credible threat existed” involving Jacob Finkelstein, the 18-year-old who was arrested on Feb. 15 after allegedly threatening to “shoot up the school,” essentially describing the incident as a matter of hearsay.
However, according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, Finkelstein stated he has made threatening statements in the past, specifically that he would shoot up the school.
Melleby stressed that, in the district investigation, which according to the letter started Feb. 13, several students the administration questioned said they did not directly hear a verbal threat from Finkelstein.
In Melleby’s letter, he says the administration asked one of the students in the group chat, “Why would you start a group chat about Jacob and say you thought he would shoot up the school?” and she replied, “I just thought he would,” saying “This issue about Jacob” got started when “one of my friend commented via social media about Jacob leaving class the previous day.”
Yet, the affidavit also says the reporting party claims he or she heard Finkelstein make statements that Finkelstein was going to “shoot up the school” during class. The reporting party also stated several other students confirmed Finkelstein had made the same statements, according to the affidavit.
In a call with The Sun, Melleby could not comment if the same students questioned in the district’s administration were the the ones recorded on the affidavit. He also could not comment on whether Finkelstein was questioned during the district’s investigation.
Melleby says he does not want to speculate until communicating with the prosecutor’s office.
“At this point, since it’s an ongoing investigation from the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, it’s inappropriate for me to make a comment at this time,” he said.
According to the letter, the administration received an email on the evening of Feb. 12 from a parent saying her child was fearful to come to school after reading group text messages between members of Eastern’s track team that revealed information about the threat.
Based on the information that was provided to the district’s administration during its investigation, Melleby said Eastern had plans to advise the school resource officer after its investigation was concluded.
However, Melleby said there was a delay in relaying this information to the Voorhees Township Police Department and that the department learned information about the alleged threat from another source.
In comments made to The Sun on Feb. 23, Voorhees Committeewoman Michelle Nocito said she contacted police after learning about the alleged threat in a group chat with several other parents on Feb. 15. Voorhees police representatives have since publicly confirmed Nocito was the one who contacted the police.
On March 5, the Monday following Melleby’s letter, The Sun reached out to Voorhees police regarding the superintendent’s statement that Eastern’s investigation revealed “no credible threat.”
Capt. Carmen Del Palazzo, public information officer for VTPD, said he could not comment on Eastern’s investigation but stresses the department does not arrest suspects without substantial reason.
“We do not arrest people just on gossip,” Del Palazzo said. “The police standard is there must be probable cause to make an arrest. We have to corroborate facts that come into the police department.”
Since the investigation is ongoing, Palazzo could not comment on the case.
Melleby also stressed that, in the future, the administration will perform a better job at being straightforward with the public regarding such circumstances.
“I think we all learned from this experience, and one of the outcomes is a review of our current security protocols and procedures,” he said. “We must all be more transparent with our school and community.”
