GRANITE CITY – After making a series of terrorist threats concerning Granite City High School from a fake Facebook profile, a man from Troy was tracked by the FBI and charged with four felonies.
Richard K. Schneidewind, 41, of Troy, was charged with two counts of making a terrorist threat on March 31, 2024, and another count of making a terrorist threat on April 2, 2024, all Class X felonies. He was additionally charged with cyberstalking from March 31 to April 2, 2024, a Class 4 felony.
According to a petition to deny Schneidewind’s pretrial release, Granite City High School employees received a call on April 2, 2024 from a man who directed them to a Facebook profile which had posted a series of terrorist threats. Two posts were made on March 31, 2024 – the user threatened to have someone “put a bomb” in Granite City High School and, in another post, threatened to have someone bring an AR-15 to Granite City High “and shoot the school up.”
The same user made a third post on April 2, 2024 threatening “to have someone take a gun to school and shoot a bus driver.” It was later confirmed that the posts were actually made by Schneidewind using a fake Facebook profile he created under someone else’s name – the name of the victim he was additionally charged with cyberstalking.
“Officers determined that the call to the school, directing employees to the page, originated from a known number of defendant Richard Schneidewind,” the petition states. “Further investigation into the Facebook posts revealed that they were also originating from a mobile device having a known phone number for defendant Richard Schneidewind.
“The FBI conducted an IP address search, determining that the Facebook posts were originating from a hotel in Pevely, Missouri. Officers determined that the defendant was staying at that hotel, and he was taken into custody there.”
The Granite City Police Department presented the case against Schneidewind. Court documents indicate he was remanded to jail to be held until his initial appearance in court.
The issuance of charges is based solely upon probable cause and is not an indication of guilt. All subjects charged with criminal offenses are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
