Teenage girls arrested on gang charges in Fayette County

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A ninth-grade girl and eight eighth- grade girls were arrested at their Fayette County schools Wednesday morning on charges of gang activity, officials confirmed.

The arrests were at Booth Middle School and at McIntosh High School, culminating two independent investigations by the school system and the Peachtree City Police Department, according to Fayette County school district spokeswoman Melinda Berry-Dreisbach.

Berry-Dreisbach said a group of students reported to school administrators that the girls had been making threats and they had started wearing the same colors -- pink and black. When the school resource officer reported it to the police, it was learned that Peachtree City PD was looking into the same reports.

The girls range in age from 13 to 15. Their charges include criminal street gang activity, making terroristic threats, carrying a weapon on school property and simple battery.

They had an appearance before a juvenile court judge Wednesday afternoon but police declined to give any details about what is next or whether the girls were in custody. A police spokeswoman said the investigation was continuing.

They did not release the girls' names because of their ages.

The reports from students, as well as others in the community, were that the girls were threatening, bullying and harassing others and they were carrying weapons. Capt.  Rosanna Dove would not describe the weapons beyond saying they did not involve guns or knives.

She said the police department received reports from teachers, students and other citizens that the girls were "beating in new members," and engaged in other gang activity during and after school and on their Facebook sites.

"We had some students approach our administrators to let them know there had been some threats made at school, and also students had noticed these girls wearing similar colors to school, and they thought it could be related to gang activity," Berry-Dreisbach said. "They were seeing signs that a gang was being formed."

The reports were first made during a regular meeting that an assistant principal has with students, she said.

Berry-Dreisbach said the girls' parents were called to the school just before their children were taken into custody.

Steve Brown, president of the Booth PTO and an incoming Fayette County commissioner, said the school system has had few instances of student violence or disciplinary problems.

"When something like this starts to rear its head, our law enforcement and school administrators go after it with a vengeance. We are proud of the fact that we don’t tolerate that kind of gang activity in our school," Brown said.

Brown said the school and the police had been tracking the reports and made the arrests when "they decided they had had enough."