Man jailed for threatening teen girlfriend’s family on Facebook

A 22-year-old parolee was arrested Sunday when he allegedly made threats via Facebook to “put a hit” on his 15-year-old girlfriend’s family after they forbid him from seeing her, police said.

Raul Reinoso of Glendale was arrested at his home in the 300 block of East Chestnut Street on suspicion of making a criminal threat, unlawful sex with a minor and oral copulation with a minor, according to Glendale police.

The girl’s parents told police that Reinoso threatened them on Facebook after they logged into their daughter’s social network account and sent him a message saying that he was not allowed to see her again, Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

“The family wasn’t going to put up with it,” he said.

That’s when Reinoso allegedly replied in Facebook messages that he was “going to put a hit on her family,” Lorenz said.

Reinoso, who told police he was on parole for armed robbery and claimed ties to a Los Angeles-based gang, was allegedly with the girl for about seven months.

Once her family learned about their sexual relationship, they tried to put a stop to it and changed her Facebook account password, Lorenz said.

On the same day police were notified about the Facebook threats, the girl’s father was confronted by a gun-wielding man, police said.

The man, who was accompanied by two or three men, was driving an older model, black, four-door Chevy and stopped in front of the father’s car at a stop sign at Chestnut and Louise streets, according to police.

The driver then exited the car and appeared to be holding a black handgun, prompting the father to put his car in reverse and drive away.

Police have identified one of the men inside the Chevy, but declined to release his name because he is under investigation, Lorenz said.

Reinoso allegedly admitted to making the Internet threats and police said the girl had allegedly heard him say he wanted to kill her father.

Sarah Dalton, spokeswoman for the California Office of Privacy Protection, said Facebook has developed safeguards, including reporting threats or blocking a person or post, to prevent cyberstalking and other forms of online harassment. Parents, she added, need to make social networking a part of an ongoing dialogue with their children and encourage the “same common sense strategies” that they use daily on the Internet.

Detectives are investigating the incident and may seek additional charges filed by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.