#Florida Police Fooled By 12-Year-Old Into Throwing WRONG Child In Jail For WEEKS Over Bomb Threat!

A 13-year-old girl was arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against her school in November, but it has now been confirmed she was innocent all along. Police are now admitting they were outsmarted by a different seventh grader — after the innocent girl spent two weeks behind bars, that is!

Back on November 19, police were called to Renaissance Charter School in Pembroke Pines, Florida after someone threatened to harm students and staff via an Instagram post. Because the account was created with 13-year-old Nia Whims‘ name, cops thought it was pretty obvious who the culprit was. They soon arrested her outside of her home and took her away in handcuffs, despite the fact she claimed she didn’t post the threat.

She would spend the next 14 days behind bars before police realized that maybe, just maybe, they got the wrong student. It turns out someone else was behind that IG account and had gone to great lengths to hide their identity and frame Nia! (Yes, it’s some full-on Riverdale action!)

During a press conference on Thursday, the Pembroke Pines Captain Adam Feiner announced that authorities had arrested a different 12-year-old who was the alleged mastermind behind the IG account and bomb threat. He claimed that the unnamed student had used a fake email address to set up the account and even sent some hurtful messages to herself via the Finsta to throw cops off her scent! Wow — it’s sad that those simple tactics worked!

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But get this: rather than profusely apologize to Nia and her family for the horrific mixup, Adam actually blamed Whims’ mother Lezlie (pictured in purple above) for not cooperating enough with the investigation — leading her daughter to spend more time behind bars. The Captain explained:

“On the date of arrest, our investigation and assessment of available evidence suggested that the person arrested was indeed responsible for the crime that was committed.”

Why does it sound like they’re doubling down that they were somehow right even though they know they were wrong??

On Lezlie’s apparent decision not to cooperate, he added:

“Police officers were operating under exigent circumstances, and in accordance with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Act. Police officers were limited by the law itself, since it was the family’s choice to not cooperate with investigating officers.”

Because the mother was allegedly not letting the officials take a closer look at Nia’s devices, for example, they ultimate decided to arrest her and place her behind bars because they felt they had enough to prove she was guilty.

Um, if just not cooperating is enough to get you arrested in Florida, we have some parents in North Port to introduce this guy to. He continued:

“On the day of arrest, probable cause for arrest was satisfied, and it was established based upon available evidence, witness statements, and the recommendation of the Broward State Attorney’s Office, who worked in consultation with investigating officers.”

Apparently, Nia’s family only began cooperating in December. It was at this point that cops were able to obtain subpoenas for the IP addresses connected to the threats. And it took another month until they uncovered evidence that pointed to the real criminal — a 12-year-old girl and classmate of Nia’s. Discussing the new suspect, Feiner continued:

“The actual suspect maliciously impersonated another student, created email and Instagram accounts to send herself as well as other students threatening messages, and intentionally lied to law enforcement and school staff to frame another person.”

The unidentified girl has been charged with written threats to kill or do bodily harm, falsifying a police report, penalty for disruption of an educational institution, and criminal use of personal information. Interestingly, Nia’s charges weren’t formally dropped until January 28, according to Local 10. A judge at the hearing reportedly told Nia:

“Your case is being dropped today. Do you have any questions for me? Good luck. I’m really sorry you went through this.”

Good luck?? Ugh. She should never have had to experience all this. Think of the trauma she now has to process and grapple with for the rest of her life! Nia reportedly replied:

“It’s OK.”

Not everyone is so willing to move past the mistake. Lezlie is fed-up with the incident and has denied being uncooperative. She told the outlet she was waiting to find a lawyer before opening up, which the reporter pointed out to Captain Feiner was her Constitutional right. The police officer had this to say in his defense:

“So I would respond by saying you are 100 percent correct; it is someone’s Constitutional right to not cooperate with law enforcement. Based upon one’s ability to either remain silent or not to cooperate with law enforcement, we didn’t have the opportunity to examine digital devices.”

Sooo, he’s still blaming her! Bold AF.

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Lezlie is now considering taking legal action against the police, telling the outlet:

“I co-operated with (police). Took them into my house. I even said if it was her… that my daughter should be punished.”

She even insisted that she let cops talk to Nia “until it got exhausting.” Lezlie also alleged that the police have video of the family cooperating in interviews. Huh. Her lawyer Marwan Porter told NBC Miami that law enforcement needs to make sure they’ve exhausted every possible scenario before locking up a child, arguing:

“It is very clear that the Pembroke Pines Police Dept. and others involved, failed to conduct a basic investigation into the false allegations which resulted in the arrest and severe emotional damage to my client.”

Driving the severity of the point further, he noted:

“This could have happened to any one of our babies and we can not and will not tolerate it. My firm is conducting an investigation to identify those responsible for this travesty and will be pursuing all options available to hold them accountable.”

Sadly, Nia is just more heartbroken that her community felt she was the real culprit, reflecting:

“It was heartbreaking that everybody thought it was me.”

So awful! We cannot imagine the hurt and pain this situation must have caused the little girl and her family. Hear more on this emotional case (below).

What a terrible mistake.

[Image via WPLG Local 10/YouTube]