POCATELLO — An Internet rumor of a menacing clown wandering the halls of Pocatello High School proved to be a hoax, but the Pocatello Police Department is continuing to monitor recent activity on social media regarding threatening clowns locally and around the country.

At a press conference at Pocatello City Hall on Tuesday, Pocatello Sgt. Trent Whitney said a student at Pocatello High School took a picture of themselves and then digitally altered the photo to make it appear as though there was a clown in the background.

The photo circulated across social media, leading concerned individuals to flood the police department, the school and School District 25 with phone calls. Pocatello police tracked down the student who posted the photo and interviewed the student before concluding the situation was a hoax. While Whitney said he couldn’t discuss specifics, he did say disciplinary action would be taken.

Whitney also said another student was interviewed regarding a threat to an area high school involving the altered photo. Police determined that situation was also a hoax. Though other rumors have circulated through social media regarding clown sightings in Pocatello, Whitney said the department has received no reports.

“Along with anything else pretty much that’s been going around the nation, it’s been a hoax,” Whitney said. “We want the community to know that we treat these matters seriously and that we will do everything we can to make sure that (the community) is safe, that these things are investigated immediately and that we’re able to track down everything.”

But due to the sensitivity of the situation, Pocatello police urge the public not to dress as clowns, both for the safety of citizens and for the safety of those dressing as clowns.

“Our advice to the public right now is to refrain from dressing up as a clown,” Whitney said. “This is no time to be doing that with all the national media attention. Honestly, it’s for everybody’s safety. My primary concern is if somebody dresses up as a clown, the public is going to overreact to that and they’re going to do something to the person dressed up that way.”

Reports of frightening clown sightings began in late August in Greenville, South Carolina, when police there investigated rumors of clowns attempting to lure children into the woods, according to CNN.

No evidence was found. In early September, accounts of clowns terrorizing civilians began popping up in Ohio. Though an Ohio school district cancelled classes because of a clown allegedly attacked a woman in the area, police found no perpetrators. On Sept. 30, the New York Times reported that false reports or threats in connection to clown sightings led to the arrest of 12 people in over 10 states.

More reports of threatening clowns popped up in various parts of the country and eventually made their way to parts of Idaho. The Nampa Police Department issued a Facebook post Saturday acknowledging the threatening and frightening social media posts regarding clowns.

Some of those social media posts, according to Pocatello resident Erica Barrus, have made their way to Southeast Idaho. She said that on Monday her son received a friend request on Facebook from an account with a scary clown as its profile picture. She also said a friend of her’s who lives in Boise has a son who was threatened online by a clown account.

Barrus was at City Hall during the press conference. While she feels better hearing the threats are just hoaxes, she’s still disturbed by the harassment being perpetrated by those posing as clowns. She also wonders if the situation will escalate.

“I do not want it to escalate to anything else,” Barrus said. “Which is why I’m stressing to any clowns (that) it’s a zero-tolerance policy here. It’s not going to fly, and it’s not acceptable. Move it along. It’s not going to be tolerated. I am glad to know that it is a hoax at this time, and that’s where it needs to stay, and it needs to be done.”