'VICTIM'S' MOM: INTERNET THREAT A PRANK.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

BURBANK - The mother of a high school student who received an Internet death threat from a fellow student called the incident a joke Thursday and accused Burbank police of overreacting to the prank.

A 17-year-old John Burroughs High School student was arrested last Friday on suspicion of making a terrorist threat, a felony, after he posted an Internet message saying he would kill another student during a regional choir competition, officials said.

But Karen Saletta, the mother of the threatened student, said she told authorities from the beginning that the boys were friends and that the threat should not be taken seriously if it was actually posted by the suspect.

``I told them there was nothing to worry about if this was the kid who did it,'' she said. ``I just wanted to make sure it was him and not someone else.''

Burbank Detective Brian Llewellyn agreed that the threat was a teen-age prank, but said it is illegal to threaten someone's life - even jokingly.

``I'm sure it was a joke,'' Llewellyn said. ``But according to the Penal Code, threatening to kill someone is a crime even if there is no intent to carry it out.''

Saletta said the night before a choir competition in Fullerton, the suspect confessed to her that he had written the message and posted it on the Internet.

She said she called the Burbank Police Department as soon as she heard. But she said Llewellyn was not in and no one would talk to her about the case.

``I explained the situation and said it was a friend of my son's and he is totally harmless,'' she said.

Saletta also accused investigators of dragging their feet in the case and failing to act swiftly to the information she provided them about the suspect.

However, Llewellyn said the report was taken last Wednesday, he was assigned the case the next day, and the suspect was arrested on Friday after America Online identified the teen through computer records.

The teen, who is not being identified because he is a minor, was released into the custody of his parents.

The detective said he presented the case to the District Attorney's Office on Thursday, but he was not sure whether charges would be filed since the incident was a prank.