Did Lee County Schools fail to investigate possible threat?

Daniel Marquez (Credit: WINK News)

The 10-year-old Cape Coral boy accused of making a violent threat is set to go to trial.

As we’ve been reporting for the past year, Daniel sent private texts to a friend he says were a joke about a scam involving money and guns, followed by a reference to a school event.

Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said he “felt” the 10-year-old was really texting a school threat. Daniel was arrested and charged with a second-degree felony.

In a WINK News exclusive, Investigative Reporter Céline McArthur sits down with the former director of safety and security for the School District of Lee County to get his take on what should—and should not—have happened to Daniel.

For the first time, we’re hearing from someone who worked inside the school district when Daniel Marquez was arrested in May 2022. Daniel was a fifth grader at Patriot Elementary in Cape Coral. Former Director of Safety and Security Rick Parfitt says the schools play a critical role in identifying, evaluating and mitigating threats involving their students. But where were they when Daniel was arrested, perp-walked and locked up?

“I spent 40 years in policing, I spent five years with the Lee County School District,” said Parfitt.

He specializes in behavioral threat assessments and explains why they’re critical in protecting schools and addressing potential violence.

“We’re looking at the behavior of individuals,” said Parfitt. “So, we’re looking at the circumstances, the content, the context of what was said, especially when we deal with kids.”

Those kids increasingly have greater access to smartphones and social media.

“Almost every kid has some type of device. It’s just amazing,” said Parfitt.

The School District of Lee County has a threat assessment team at each school. It’s the law under the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, passed by the Florida Legislature in 2018. Parfitt helped create a plan for the school district to be executed at the school level.

“That was my biggest accomplishment. It’s a big school district. A lot of schools,” said Parfitt. “Teams consisted of school officials, including their mental health folks, whether that be school counselors, social workers, psychologists, a school administrator, principal, or an assistant principal, and also law enforcement. When we developed the program for Lee County Schools, those were the folks that were the main, the core individuals on these teams.”

Parfitt says a thorough team approach cuts down on mistakes that can’t be erased.

“When it’s not done, we sometimes we jump to conclusions on cases,” said Parfitt.

Parfitt supervised the threat assessment records management system and saw all the reports when he was with the school district from 2018 to 2022.

He told me a behavioral threat assessment was not done for Daniel before he was locked up in May of last year. He also watched our yearlong series and reviewed the available evidence.

“I don’t see a true threat,” said Parfitt. “We’re looking at one person’s interpretation.”

That person is Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

“Any person would look and say, ‘Guns, get ready for water day—that is a threat,'” said Marceno last June.

I then asked him, “What if you were wrong?” Marceno answered, “Well, I’m not going to be wrong going with what I feel.”

Since then, Marceno has refused to talk to me about Daniel’s case.

“There has to be more to it, I think,” said Parfitt.

Parfitt also fears the threat assessment program—created to safeguard your kids—is not being taken as seriously as it should.

“I’ve seen a lot of things come and go, fads and trends and whatnot. This is not one of them,” said Parfitt. “We still don’t have that buy-in from the schools, from law enforcement, from the community. We don’t, because I think that they’re looking at it in different ways, or hearing different information about what it is, and coming to their own opinion that no, this isn’t going to work. This is just a way for a kid to get out of trouble to minimize their behavior, and it’s not.”

In a WINK News exclusive, we brought you the sworn testimony of the deputy who arrested Daniel. Tyler Mackereth explained to Daniel’s attorney Alex Saiz why he didn’t communicate with Daniel’s school.

Saiz: “Have you spoken to any officials at Daniel’s either current or any other schools that he attends?”

Mackereth: “No.”

Saiz: “What… is there a reason why you didn’t speak to any officials there?”

Mackereth: “I didn’t think it had bearing on whether he sent the messages that violated the statute.”

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office said the Florida Statute 836.10, Written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism, didn’t require proof that Daniel intended to hurt or scare anyone. The texts alone were enough. State Attorney Amira Fox’s office agreed and charged the boy.

However, last month’s United States Supreme Court decision on ‘true threats,‘ raises the bar for police and prosecutors in these types of cases. Professor Lyrissa Lidsky from the University of Florida Levin College of Law explained how.

“If you’re going to make a threat, the person being prosecuted has to consciously disregard a substantial risk that it’s going to be misperceived as a threat. So, I think it’s a really good opinion,” said Lidsky. “You have to have proof of what was going on in (Daniel’s) head, and he’s a child. Proving what’s going on in a 10-year-old’s head is always a challenge, as any parent knows.”

Parfitt tells me he uses our year-long investigation in his behavioral threat assessment training as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong.

“Our goal is violence prevention,” said Parfitt.

To be clear, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office created its own school threat enforcement team. However, Parfitt says it’s different than the school district’s threat assessments teams.

I reached out to the School District of Lee County for a response. I’ve been told they’re working on getting me one, but it’s a holiday week, so they’ll need some time. I’ll stay on top of that and let you know what happens with Daniel’s trial.

If you want to weigh in, email me at celine.mcarthur@winknews.com. In the meantime, you can catch up on what you missed in our 17-part series.

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