Johnna Rhone: Michigan Art Teacher Accused of School Threat

Johnna Rhone is a St. Clair Shores, Michigan, art teacher who is accused of placing threatening notes around her school.

According to The Detroit News, she is accused of “leaving threatening notes at Jefferson Middle School in Lakeview Public Schools.” The case comes as Michigan is still reeling from the Oxford school shooting nearby that left four students dead and a 15-year-old teenager and his parents charged.

She is 59 years old.

Here’s what you need to know:

One of the Notes Contained the Word ‘Boom,’ a Prosecutor Says

Prosecutor Lucido read one of the three notes during a press conference: “Start break early. He’s going to do it. Just don’t be in the hall after lunch. Boom. Get it?”

WXYZ-TV said Rhone is on video putting the notes under doors in the school, but had no weapons at home, a search revealed.

Lucido commented, “I can expect something like this for a child, not an adult.”

“Somebody either crying out for help, somebody whose maybe desperate, somebody who wants a day off. But I don’t have a crystal ball to give you an exact answer as to why some adult, who is in supervision and control of our children in a classroom, would even think of doing something like this,” he said in the press conference.

“We take a zero tolerance…from students and teachers that are threatening others,” he said.

According to The Detroit News, at least three notes “containing threatening language” were found in a “classroom, the library, and the media center at the school.”

Rhone, Who Has Been Arraigned, Denies the Allegations

Michigan court records

Michigan court records show that Johnna Ruth Rhone is charged with a count of “FALSE REPORT OR THREAT OF TERRORISM.” Her arraignment has already been held. She will next be in court on February 1, 2022, for a probable cause hearing. The offense date was listed as December 17, 2021. Her date of birth was 1962. The venue is the city of St. Clair Shores.

Rhone’s lawyer Andrew Leone said in court that Rhone denies the charges and “looks forward to defending herself,” the Detroit News reported. Her LinkedIn page says only that she had worked as an educator for Michigan schools for 21 years. Her Facebook page appears to be deleted.

“The superintendent came out and said he saw no plausible threat,” Leone said to Fox2 Detroit. “He saw words on a piece of paper, with nothing to back it up. That’s what I gather from the article, so I don’t think there is any threat to this particular community or the kids of this community.”

The prosecutor called it a “post-Oxford world” and said parents are afraid to send their kids to school.

She has no criminal record and whispered “not true” in court, according to a video of the court proceeding published by WXYZ-TV. She received house arrest, psychological testing, and a GPS monitor, as well as bail that is 10% of $75,000, according to WXYZ, which added that she was ordered to contact no one at the middle school.

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