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Creepy clown spotting site launched by Jefferson County teen

Posted at 7:49 AM, Oct 31, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-31 10:16:50-04

On Halloween, you're more than likely to see a few people dressed up as clowns.

The creepy clown craze has certainly rattled a few around the country over the past couple of months and if you'd like to know where creepy clowns have been spotted, there’s now a website for that.

Rocco Marchitto, who’s a senior at Arvada West High School, decided to develop CreepTrek.com after the threat of creepy clowns hit too close to home.

Last month, several JeffCo schools, including Arvada West, reported threats of violence against the school by creepy clowns.

“They were saying 'rush to your classes, don't stand in the hallway, we want everyone in their classes with the doors locked,'” said Marchitto.  “I had friends telling me that they're seeing clowns when they're going home. I had my sister tell me that her friends said that to her, so she was scared."

The creepy clown craze spurred a letter home to JeffCo parents warning them of reports of "clowns coming to shoot up the school."

And for Halloween, many districts are banning clown costumes.

Adams 12 and Denver Public Schools have district-wide clown costume bans.

In JeffCo and Douglas County, the ban will be a school-by-school decision.

In Cherry Creek Schools, clown costumes are banned at the middle and high school levels, as is the case in Greeley. 

And once the creepy clown craze has died down, Rocco has plans to continue and expand the site.

“I should have some user base and then I'll use that to make just a safety app in general where you can report anything suspicious and then it will alert you if there's something in your area so you can be on the lookout,” said Marchitto.

Rocco’s currently in the process of adding a verification system, so spam markers are eliminated.

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