He spent 37 days in jail for a Facebook post — now FIRE has his back
https://www.thefire.org/news/he-spent-37-days-jail-facebook-post-now-fire-has-his-back
QUOTE
In September, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Larry shared a meme on a Facebook thread about a vigil in Perry County, Tennessee. The meme quoted President Donald Trump saying, “We have to get over it” following a January 2024 school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. The meme included the commentary, “This seems relevant today …”
Just after 11 p.m. on Sept. 21, four officers came to Larry’s home, handcuffed him, and took him to jail. He was locked up for “threatening mass violence at a school.” His bond — an astronomical $2 million!
Police justified the arrest by saying that people took the meme as a threat to their high school, which has a similar name to the one where the school shooting occurred 20 months earlier. However, police have been unable to produce any evidence that members of the public took the meme as a threat. As The Intercept noted: “There were no public signs of this hysteria. Nor was there much evidence of an investigation—or any efforts to warn county schools.”
Larry was jailed for more than five weeks. But that wasn’t the only thing he suffered. During that time, he lost his post-retirement job doing medical transportation and missed the birth of his granddaughter.
Yuchen Pei
npub1lr…y6wd6
2025-11-19 20:25:38 UTC
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2025-11-19 20:25:38 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "He spent 37 days in jail for a Facebook post — now FIRE has his back\n\nhttps://www.thefire.org/news/he-spent-37-days-jail-facebook-post-now-fire-has-his-back\n\nQUOTE\n\nIn September, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, Larry shared a meme on a Facebook thread about a vigil in Perry County, Tennessee. The meme quoted President Donald Trump saying, “We have to get over it” following a January 2024 school shooting at Perry High School in Iowa. The meme included the commentary, “This seems relevant today …”\n\nJust after 11 p.m. on Sept. 21, four officers came to Larry’s home, handcuffed him, and took him to jail. He was locked up for “threatening mass violence at a school.” His bond — an astronomical $2 million! \n\nPolice justified the arrest by saying that people took the meme as a threat to their high school, which has a similar name to the one where the school shooting occurred 20 months earlier. However, police have been unable to produce any evidence that members of the public took the meme as a threat. As The Intercept noted: “There were no public signs of this hysteria. Nor was there much evidence of an investigation—or any efforts to warn county schools.”\n\nLarry was jailed for more than five weeks. But that wasn’t the only thing he suffered. During that time, he lost his post-retirement job doing medical transportation and missed the birth of his granddaughter.",
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