Florida boy handcuffed and 'perp-walked' by sheriff now lives in fear after charges dropped

An 11-year-old Florida boy who was handcuffed, led before television cameras and identified by local authorities as a potential school shooter is living in fear and has trouble sleeping after prosecutors quietly dismissed the felony charge against him weeks after his arrest.

Carlo “Kingston” Dorelli was arrested in September 2024 and accused by Volusia County deputies of compiling a so-called “kill list” of classmates and of boasting of a plan to attack Silver Sands Middle School during a FaceTime call. Deputies said they found replica rifles, knives, swords and throwing stars during a search of his bedroom and publicly displayed the items at a news conference alongside a sheet of paper with classmates’ names marked by stab marks. He was charged with making a written threat of a mass shooting, a second-degree felony under Florida law.

The boy’s mother, Jesse Myerski, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that prosecutors dismissed the charge after her son completed a six-week diversion program and that he admitted to no wrongdoing. She said the family received little notice of the dismissal and no corresponding effort by authorities to counter the national broadcast of his arrest. "He's trying really hard to get back to normal. He doesn't really like going out in public anymore, he thinks that everyone knows him from the media and the news," Myerski said. "He can't see a police car without getting scared. It's been a nightmare."

Myerski said her son, now 12, spent nearly two weeks in custody alongside older teens accused of violent crimes before prosecutors reduced and ultimately dropped his case. Another juvenile who participated in the same FaceTime call was later charged, authorities said.

The images and video of Dorelli in handcuffs were produced under a high-profile enforcement approach led by Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood, who has publicly defended a "name and shame" policy aimed at deterring prank threats that he says waste law enforcement resources and taxpayer money. At a press conference and in posts on the sheriff's office Facebook page, Chitwood said the department would publish photos and videos of juveniles arrested for threats and that he would "perp walk" children to make an example of them.

"Every time we make an arrest, your kid's photo is going to be put out there," Chitwood said. "If I can do it, I'm going to perp walk your kid so everyone can see what your kid's up to. For the little bastards out there who think this is funny — you ain't that smart. You're getting caught."

Civil liberties advocates and parents have criticized the practice, arguing that publicly humiliating juveniles before cases are fully adjudicated can inflict lasting psychological harm and undermine the presumption of innocence. Officials in Volusia County have maintained that public disclosure deters frivolous or malicious threats and increases transparency about school-safety enforcement.

Since Dorelli’s arrest, local officials acknowledged that at least 14 other juveniles have been handcuffed, paraded and publicly identified under the sheriff’s policy. According to Myerski and court records cited by local media, several of those cases have been reduced or dismissed, though mugshots and videos remain accessible in public and online records.

Legal experts say the juvenile diversion system is designed to provide alternatives to prosecution and to allow eligible youths to avoid a criminal record if they complete court-ordered programs. In this case, local prosecutors moved to dismiss the felony count after the diversion period, but there was no high-profile announcement to match the initial publicity, the boy’s family said.

Volusia County's approach arrives amid heightened national concern over school threats and violence. Law enforcement agencies across the country have been under pressure to respond swiftly to threats, while juvenile-justice advocates caution against measures that may criminalize normal adolescent behavior or produce collateral consequences for minors who do not pose a clear danger.

Myerski said the long-term damage to her son has come not from the charge itself but from the public spectacle surrounding his arrest. "My son admitted to no wrongdoing, and after completing a six-week diversion program, the charge was dismissed," she said. "The real crime was them humiliating him and exposing him to the world."