A South Florida teen's private conversations led Instagram to tip off the FBI about alleged violent threats.
On Monday, 18-year-old Ronaldo Hernandez-Padron appeared for the first time in front of a Miami-Dade judge to learn he had been charged for writing threats to conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.
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WATCH HERE"It was a joke," said David Donet, an attorney representing Hernandez-Padron, while hoping a judge gave him a low bond that would allow him to be released from jail.
Records show the FBI's National Threat Operations Center received an online tip from Instagram/Meta about Hernandez-Padron's account.
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In a group chat with his friends, the teen allegedly posted "bad things are going to happen" and "bombing a house today."
FBI agents followed through on the tip and arrested the teen.
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According to the teen's attorney, he is an honor student at Florida International University. The university has not answered NBC6's request for comment.
"It was just youthful inexperience," Donet said. "We are confident Mr. Hernandez, who is an honor student and bright young kid, learned his lesson about this joke."
Hernandez-Padron spoke to reporters as he walked out of jail Monday night.
"It wasn’t directed at anybody specifically," he said.
If convicted, Hernandez-Padron could face up to 15 years in prison.
Amid the recent events in New Orleans and Las Vegas, Judge Mindy Glazer told the defendant, "You can't joke about anything online because it's a lot of bad things happening in this world, and the police take everything seriously as they should."
"I think the best thing you can do is learn from it and just not repeat it and not let it repeat and learn from the mistake that you made and be a better person," Hernandez-Padron said outside of jail. "It was a joke and it was a very bad joke and I’m extremely sorry for making it, and I’ve learned all that I could in my time here, and I apologize a lot to the people that I made concerned."
