MARYSVILLE — Prosecutors have dropped a case against a Lake Stevens man accused of threatening students of color at Marysville schools via social media.
The incident led to a reckoning in the Marysville School District in 2021: After the threats came to light, local leaders hosted a rally in April 2021 demanding accountability from school officials. Marysville teachers condemned racism at their schools and voted “no confidence” in their Board of Directors.
Benjamin Richey, 22 , was charged with a felony hate crime in August 2021. Years earlier, in 2016, Richey had been investigated by police for threatening violence against people of color while attending Marysville Pilchuck High School, court documents say.
Richey has been out of custody, without being required to post bond, since his arraignment in August 2021.
According to a motion filed May 19, prosecutors dropped the charges because there was not “sufficient admissible evidence” to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Deputy prosecutor Jarett Goodkin did not immediately respond to a Herald reporter’s phone call for comment.
Richey’s attorney Jim Johanson said the charges were dropped because to meet the statute for a hate crime, the statement has to be against a specific person or group, and what Richey posted was too generalized.
Prosecutors “wouldn’t be able to prove it,” Johanson said Monday afternoon. “It was a really bad joke, and he learned it the hard way.”
On January 28, 2021, one of Richey’s relatives had a few friends over after school, according to charges filed in Snohomish County Superior Court. Richey allegedly had taken a younger friend’s phone without his knowledge. Richey used the phone, linked to a student’s Snapchat, to take a picture of himself holding a BB gun with the caption, “killing minorities soon,” according to court documents.
Richey, who is white, told police it was a joke, court documents say. But students at Marysville Pilchuck high school did not take it that way.
Four students immediately contacted the school about the post. The picture showed a person’s left hand holding a silver gun that looked like a pistol, with a bit of orange near the muzzle to indicate it was a BB gun, according to court documents.
One student said she believed the gun was real. Another told police she was afraid because she was a person of color. The Snapchat account that Richey posted the picture on belonged to a student at the school, who had also previously used racial slurs and made threats in the past, according to court documents.
In December 2020, the owner of the Snapchat account reportedly used a racial slur during a virtual class, saying all Black people should be killed, according to court documents. Multiple students reported the incident to the Marysville Police Department, who investigated. The student faced discipline from the school, and completed a “diversion program” through Snohomish County Juvenile Court.
This history, combined with a 2014 shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School that left five dead, created a reasonable sense of harm, prosecutors wrote.
Marysville School District spokesperson Jodi Runyon said the health and safety of every student is their top priority.
“We work to create a safe and respectful learning environment for all students and take incidents such as these very seriously,” she said. “When incidents such as these occur, it is deeply concerning to our schools and the school district. We remind all to report incidents such as these by calling 911, reporting on SafeSchools, and notifying the school administrator if it is related to a school.”
Court records suggest that Richey has no felony criminal history.
However, in May 2016, Richey had been accused of using a racial slur against a classmate, according to court documents. A year later, he allegedly threatened another student, saying he was going to shoot up the school and started naming other students. Investigators found he made similar threats weeks earlier while making a clay gun in art class, court documents said. After this incident, the charges say, he reportedly said he wouldn’t make jokes like that anymore.
Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.
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