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Federal Hearing Waived For Former UK Student Accused Of Threats

Posted at 4:34 PM, Nov 20, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-20 16:57:23-05

LEXINGTON, KY. (LEX 18) – A preliminary hearing was waived in federal court for the student accused of spreading a hoax threat against the University of Kentucky over social media.

Haily Loriane Duvall is now facing federal charges after police say she contacted UK Police and several media outlets to report apparent threats made on the social media platform Snapchat.

She is now facing federal charges of threatening communications, making false statements and reporting false information and hoaxes, in addition to state charges in Fayette County. Each of those charges carries a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Instead, a detention hearing was held to determine whether or not Duvall will be detained in federal custody.

Duvall’s attorney called the incident an “unfortunate situation” and accused the media of making the issue bigger than it was.

In the immediate aftermath, Duvall reached out to several local media outlets, including LEX 18, to report the Snapchat photos.

The defense also cited a tough upbringing in the foster care system.

Prosecutors say that Duvall admitted to creating the Snapchat images and said there was no specific threat to anyone at UK.  A detective on the case also said that due to behavior by the defendant, he believed she could possibly be a flight risk.

The judge told the courtroom he will make a decision by Wednesday afternoon.