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Man sentenced to three years behind bars for threatening Hampton teen and her family

Posted at 6:40 PM, Sep 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-06 18:40:39-04

HAMPTON, Va. -  A 24-year-old Maryland man was sentenced to three years behind bars for the threats he made to a teenage girl and her family in Hampton.

News 3 spoke exclusively to the victim, Skylar Seals, and her family immediately following the sentencing. They said they were happy this is over and that they were satisfied with the sentence.

The judge called this case very unusual.

He said the suspect, Albert Jarrell, repeatedly terrorized the teen and her family after being told to leave them alone.

Prosecutors stated in court the two met online when he was 21 years old and she was 14 years old. She said she had problems with him back then but then went a long period without hearing from him.

The two never met in person and only spoke on social media and on the phone.

Jarrell admitted to carrying on the relationship and that he wanted more, but when she tried to cut it off things turned ugly.

Serious problems started up again last spring when Seals was at Phoebus High School.

She said she lived in fear of being kidnapped and having her loved ones killed.

Jarrell took the stand and admitted that he threatened to kidnap the teen he had an online relationship with and he said he threatened to kill her dad.

Officials had to make sure he school was safe after Jarrell apparently sent text messages saying he was going to shoot up her school. Police got involved with the case and the threats were taken seriously.

“We need to send a message that this type of behavior is not going to be tolerated, and as such we wanted to make sure that the individual and anyone that may be thinking about making such threats is held accountable," said Hampton Commonwealth Attorney Anton Bell.

Jarrell was arrested in April at his home in Maryland and has been held in jail without bond.

Seals said her life was turned upside down and that the situation affected her schoolwork

Jarrell’s defense attorney described him as a loner and said he had no intentions of ever carrying out any violence.

He said he didn’t have a driver’s license and had only been out of the state of Maryland one time.

Jarrell was extremely apologetic on the stand.

His defense attorney argued that he admitted to police what he had done as soon as they arrived at his door in Maryland. But in the end the judge sided with the Commonwealth’s attorney, saying his actions were deliberate after being told repeatedly to leave Seals and her family alone.