In January 2023, the school management, teachers and students of a high school in Krefeld received a disturbing email. In it, a 16-year-old announced a killing spree at the Maria-Sibylla-Merian-Gymnasium. The teenager had hacked the e-mail account of a high school student to send the e-mail. According to the police, he himself is said to come from Baden-Württemberg and has no connection to Krefeld.

Although the police did not believe the threat was serious, they searched the school with explosives-sniffing dogs. She also guarded the building the following day. The 16-year-old was also identified as the sender of the email that day. When he was questioned, he finally confessed to the crime.

Now the young person should pay for the police operations he caused. The costs for this amount to almost 38,000 euros, as the police announced on Friday. "Basically, we do not charge for the costs incurred in fulfilling our legal mandate. But this is a special case," says Krefeld police chief Ursula Mecklenbrauck.

"Here someone pretended that many people's lives were in danger and provoked a large police operation in the school. And he then wanted to blame a high school student for that," says Mecklenbrauck. The Krefeld police chief is of the opinion: "The polluter should pay for the costs and not the taxpayer."

If a perpetrator pretends to be in a dangerous situation and has to expect a police operation, the police can charge him for the operation. The fact that the perpetrator is still a minor in this case does not release him from his obligation to pay. In addition, the cost notice also includes a preliminary investigation against the 16-year-old for disturbing the public peace and for hate speech.

Sources: WDR, RTL