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Danielle Bellomo, a mother-of-three and New Jersey conservative school-board member, remembers the second she first noticed the textual content message that will change her life: “She can’t die quickly sufficient.”
“When I learn these phrases, ‘She can’t die quickly sufficient,’ it stopped me in my tracks,” Bellomo instructed Fox News Digital in an unique interview. “I at all times knew there was disagreement politically, however I by no means actually wrapped my head round the truth that they really needed me lifeless.”
Bellomo, a Marlboro Township Board of Education member, mom of three and longtime group volunteer, is now on the heart of a case that has shaken her suburban New Jersey district and sparked outrage throughout the parental-rights motion nationwide.
A Monmouth County choose this week prolonged a short lived protecting order in opposition to Mitesh Gandhi, the husband of one other college board member, after studying aloud a collection of textual content messages allegedly written by him. The messages included a bunch chat titled, “This B—- Needs to Die.”
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Danielle Bellomo, a New Jersey mom, was the topic of a viral textual content message scandal. (Danielle Bellomo through Facebook)
In one of many textual content threads, Gandhi allegedly referred to Bellomo as “a mendacity c—” and wrote, “Mission is to only let her die by herself lol.”
Another viral message, a part of what was dubbed “Nipplegate” in October, appeared to indicate former board candidate Scott Semaya typing throughout a public assembly, “Bellomo have to be chilly — her nips might lower glass proper n” with a finger about to press the ‘o’ on his cellphone’s keyboard.
Fox News Digital has reviewed screenshots of the alleged messages.
That picture unfold quickly on-line final month, drawing condemnation from dad and mom and even Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who known as the feedback “flawed and evil.” Two candidates concerned within the chat later dropped out of the college board race.
“It stunned me that it reached that stage,” Bellomo stated. “But it didn’t shock me that conservatives stand behind each other. The parental-rights motion is powerful.”
Bellomo has spent greater than a decade volunteering in Marlboro Township colleges. She says she ran for the board to help curriculum transparency and parental rights, to not turn out to be a goal.
“I acquired concerned within the college boards as a result of I’m an energetic volunteer in our group. I’ve been concerned with the mum or dad group that I account for happening 12 years,” she stated. “So I noticed the varsity board as the following step in furthering my involvement in the neighborhood and I needed it to reinforce my youngsters’s academic expertise whereas they had been within the Ok-3 district. I by no means imagined that it could have led to this.”
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Danielle Bellomo, a New Jersey mother, was focused in a bunch chat known as “This B—- should Die” for her conservative political opinions. (Danielle Bellomo through Facebook)
The threats modified all the pieces inside her house.
“My son is nearly a young person. He used to go locations together with his buddies — now he asks if somebody goes to come back to our home,” she stated. “My 8-year-old cries if she thinks I’ve a board assembly. My youngest retains asking if I’m protected.”
Her oldest son noticed the protection of grown males sharing lewd messages about Bellomo’s physique on social media.
“That was humiliating for him,” she stated. “He’s a middle-schooler. His buddies noticed it. It has affected each a part of our life.”
According to Bellomo, on-line hostility on the town isn’t new, however she stated she believes this has crossed into one thing much more severe.
“There’s at all times been Facebook drama, individuals arguing,” she stated. “When I spotted that there wasn’t only one, however two completely different communications and presumably, you realize, who is aware of what number of extra the place one communication is a bunch chat that was titled, ‘This B—- must die,’ after which the opposite is definitely plans and that there is a mission and the mission is to look at me die or to have me die alone….. It actually simply takes it to an entire completely different stage. It’s like, this isn’t simply regular disagreement.“
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Gandhi didn’t reply to Fox News Digital’s request for remark. (Mitesh Gandhi through Facebook)
The choose overseeing the protective-order listening to refused to dismiss Gandhi’s request to finish the order, permitting Bellomo’s protecting order to proceed by way of January, when a full trial will probably be held.
Under New Jersey legislation, a harassment-related protecting order could be prolonged if a choose finds an ongoing threat to the petitioner.
But on the felony stage, Bellomo says the Marlboro Police Department referred the case to the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, which declined expenses.
“I used to be disheartened, however not stunned,” she stated. “We have a Democrat prosecutor. The police really useful expenses, however he didn’t comply with by way of.”
Bellomo says essentially the most painful half has been the response, or lack thereof, from her personal college district. One of the textual content threads, she claims, was despatched throughout an in-person board assembly whereas she sat simply ft away.
“Our township has insurance policies. If somebody is a menace, they’re not speculated to be allowed on college property,” she stated. “Our superintendent, Dr. Michael Ballone, did nothing. Our board president, Brian Cohen, did nothing. They selected to not implement the insurance policies which might be already in place.”
LISTEN: UNHINGED VOICEMAIL EXPOSES LEFT-WING CANDIDATE’S DEATH THREATS AGAINST GOP SENATOR
Lenny Thor, left, Chad Hyett and Mitesh Gandhi are a few of these named to take part within the alleged group chat. ( )
“The Marlboro Township Public Schools (MTPS) takes the security and safety of all board members, workers, college students, and households extraordinarily severely,” Ballone wrote in an announcement to Fox News Digital.
“Administration has responded accordingly to Mrs. Bellomo’s considerations, together with her expressions of feeling unsafe by working with the Marlboro Police Department, the entity accountable for guaranteeing all Marlboro residents (together with Board members) are protected. We additionally added to our inside security protocols which can’t be disclosed publicly,” Ballone added. “MTPS believes in sustaining a safe atmosphere for everybody.”
Two fellow board members, Annette Siewert and Valentina Mendez, had been the one colleagues who stepped in, she stated.
“They begged the superintendent to guard us,” Bellomo stated. “They stood up publicly and requested for motion. Nobody else did.”
Bellomo says she has already heard from dozens of ladies who say her state of affairs has scared them away from public service.
“They say, ‘I might by no means undergo what you’re going by way of,’” she stated. “That’s heartbreaking. Local authorities mustn’t require you to place your loved ones in danger.”
“I used to go to each college occasion, each group exercise,” she stated. “Now I preserve the children house from issues. I ship my husband inside first to examine if persons are there who shouldn’t be. My life modified in a single day.”
Bellomo stated she believes the threats stem from her outspoken advocacy of curriculum and parental rights, points which have divided college boards throughout the nation.
“I used to be very clear throughout my marketing campaign,” she stated. “I stand firmly for parental rights, native management and age-appropriate curriculum. And I’ve pushed again onerous on among the insurance policies coming down from the state.” She added, “I believe that made me a goal.”
Despite all the pieces, Bellomo stated she has no plans to give up the board.
“I completely wish to proceed,” she stated. “This mission is simply too vital. And I hope the district finally implements the insurance policies which might be supposed to guard us.”
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What she needs most, she says, is to remind Americans that disagreement ought to by no means flip to calling for violence.
“We ought to be capable of debate. We ought to be capable of disagree,” Bellomo stated. “But it ought to by no means rise to the extent of wanting to harm somebody. We can do higher than this.”
Gandhi, Semaya, Cohen and the county prosecutor’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to Fox News Digital’s request for remark.
