Attorney for 16-year-old suspect: 'It's absurd'
Is it a crime to wish bad karma on someone? A Pinellas County teenager says she was suspended from school and charged with a crime just for posting a karma comment on her Facebook page.
Allie Scott is a junior at Osceola High School. The 16 year old says it all started in the school parking lot last month when she parked her brother's car in another girl's spot. She was asked to move it, and when she did at the end of the day, the car had been scratched up with a key.
Without naming who she thought did it, she posted this comment on her Facebook page: "Oh, so you keyed my car. Your karma is going to be a whole lot worse than that."
She wound up in the office and her mom was called.
"I started crying immediately. I didn't know what to say. I've never been in trouble before," Allie said.
Her mother drove to the school and also went to the office to meet with administrators.
"I had no idea what she was in trouble for and the severity of it until we got to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office," Paula Scott recalled.
Allie was charged with stalking by the sheriff's office. She has a court hearing next week.
Cecilia Barreda, a spokeswoman with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, said the agency cannot comment on the case because its an open investigation and she is a juvenile.
High-profile criminal attorney John Trevena has had his share of strange cases and even he finds this one almost too bizarre to believe.
"It's absurd," he said. "Karma is a spiritual believe that the universe will even things out and justice. There doesn't seem to be any allegations that constitutes a crime -- none."
Allie already served a three-day suspension, and she is not in any trouble with her mother.
"I've always taught my daughter; Leave it to karma and just let it go."
Nobody at the Pinellas County School Board returned our calls or email. The district is on holiday break.
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