Three teenage girls were arrested Thursday in connection with the Twitter account Burnbook10.
Two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old were arrested on a charge of harassing communications, a Class A misdemeanor, said Capt. Justin Thompson with the Bentonville Police Department. The girls were given citations and will appear in juvenile court at a later date.
Burnbook10 began posting sexually explicit tweets about several Bentonville High School girls Oct. 24. The account went dormant the next day but picked up again Jan. 12. Later tweets included one encouraging a student to commit suicide, while another made fun of a student the tweeter claimed had an eating disorder.
Many of the tweets were profane in nature and some were racist toward students.
Thompson said police were able to find out who was behind the account by talking with students and later getting a computer internet protocol address.
According to Thompson, an investigation revealed one or more of the girls created the Burnbook10 account and all three posted comments about other students.
Bentonville police arrested a 12-year-old boy last week in connection with another Twitter account.
Freezebook started Jan. 14 and targeted students in the same bullying and profane nature as Burnbook10.
The 12-year-old has pleaded not guilty to four counts of harassing communication.
Police are still searching for victims in the Burnbook10 postings, Thompson said.
Michael Poore, School District superintendent, said he was “thrilled” the people involved were found.
“We couldn’t be happier with the Bentonville Police Department,” Poore said. “They took our information and then dug this out. This is not easy stuff to track down, and I think our Police Department did a fantastic job.”
District administrators have heard about the harm the accounts have caused students, Poore said.
“People have called and said, ‘My daughter is upset,’’’ Poore said. “I know of one situation where a girl stayed home for three days because she was deeply hurt by the postings.”