After Livingston HS Threats, Hackensack Man Gets 7 Years In Jail

LIVINGSTON, NJ — A 19-year-old man from Hackensack was sentenced to seven years in state prison after pleading guilty to making social media threats against Livingston High School and others in 2016, authorities announced Friday.

John Coulouris, 19, admitted making two posts each on Sept. 13 and Sept. 23, 2016, where he created two fictitious Facebook accounts and posted threats against Livingston High School, according to Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Joseph Giordano, who handled the case.

Giordano said that investigators with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office Forensic Analysis and Cyber Technical Services Unit were able to follow Coulouris’s digital footprint “right to his front door.”

Essex County Prosecutor Robert Laurino said that as these types of incidents become “ever more common,” the public should realize that they are serious criminal offenses that have significant penal consequences, not “pranks.”

• See related article: School Threat Probes 'Spiking' In Essex County: Official

According to prosecutors:

• On Sept. 13, 2016 Coulouris made a post from a fake account in the name of his ex-girlfriend’s mother and threatened to kill everyone at Livingston High School
• On Sept. 23, 2016 Coulouris used a second fictitious account in which he threatened to “murder everyone” at Livingston High School
• Coulouris admitted to conspiring with unknown individuals as part of a so-called “hacking collective” to send a bomb to the house of an Essex County judge, and to impersonating his ex-girlfriend, her parents and a Livingston police detective by making multiple posts using their names
• Coulouris admitted to two counts of cyber harassment and invasion of privacy for posting his ex-girlfriend’s naked photo online, and one count of terroristic threats for offering money to kill his ex-girlfriend’s mother

The case was handled in Hudson County because of the threats Coulouris made against the Essex County judge, prosecutors said.

• See related article: NJ Man Admits Role In Livingston HS Threats, Bomb Conspiracy

File Photo: Livingston Public Schools

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