Area Woman Charged With Threatening School Shooting On Instagram

A woman already facing time behind bars for her role in a drug trafficking ring operating out of the Hudson Valley also posted a threat on social media targeting a Dutchess County high school, according to an indictment unsealed this week.

F.D. Roosevelt High School
Photo Credit: *Google Maps street view*

Zak Failla

12/19/2018 10:43 a.m.

Poughkeepsie resident Samantha Vantassell, 35, allegedly created a fictitious Instagram account under another person’s name to create a post that threatened a school shooting at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School in Hyde Park.

In the post, Attorney General Barbara Underwood said Vantassell posted a photo of someone holding what appeared to be an assault rifle with the caption, “going through a lot right now can’t go to school I’m feeling like shooting roosevelt school up.”

Vantassell is also facing charges for her role in a drug distribution ring that was operating out of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties. On top of the drug charges, she has been charged with making a terroristic threat and criminal impersonation. If convicted, she faces up to seven additional years in prison.

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