SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A former Torrey Pines High School student who posted threats targeting the school on his Instagram account was sentenced Friday to a year in custody, with at least six months to be served at a residential alcohol and mental health treatment facility.
Kevin Matlak, 21, pleaded guilty last month to one count of making a criminal threat.
Superior Court Judge Polly Shamoon placed Matlak on five years probation and ordered him to stay away from Torrey Pines High and have no contact with three people named in a criminal complaint.
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Defense attorney Brian Watkins said Matlak didn't threaten anyone directly, but three former classmates -- whom the defendant didn't know -- read his posts on Instagram and felt threatened by them.
The classmates of Matlak's who graduated in 2015 reported the threats to law enforcement on May 30, leading to his arrest.
"I hate all of you," Matlak wrote in one post, according to Deputy District Attorney Matthew Greco.
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"Get the (expletive) out of San Diego 2K18 before I find u," the defendant wrote in another post. Matlak also posted a photo of him holding an AR-15 rifle in one hand and giving the middle finger with the other hand, Greco said.
The principal of Torrey Pines High School wrote a letter to the court, detailing how the threats impacted him and his assistant principals, knowing that the person making the threats had not been arrested and knowing that they could be in harm's way after they made the decision to keep the school open the next day.
