Teens Arrested Over Facebook Prank

Setting up fake profile was serious crime, police say
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2011 10:26 AM CST
Teens Arrested Over Facebook Prank
The investigation began when a parent informed police about the Facebook page.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick, File)

Two teenage girls in Florida are facing serious criminal charges for a Facebook prank they played on a classmate. The girls, aged 15 and 16, created a fake Facebook profile in the name of another student—a girl they were no longer friends with—and added photos doctored to make it look like their victim was engaged in sexually explicit acts, the Marco Eagle reports.

The fake account racked up 181 "friends" and the victim was "subjected to numerous incidents of teasing and ridicule for an ongoing period of time as a result," a school official says. The girls have been charged with aggravated stalking of a minor under 16 and have been ordered to have 21 days home detention before a hearing next month. The pair are believed to be the first people in the area charged under a state law against cyberbullying enacted in 2008 after a local teen committed suicide.
(More Facebook stories.)

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