Teenager charged with making threats on MySpace.com

A suburban Chicago teenager was charged Monday with allegedly threatening the life of a school administrator on his MySpace.com blog, police said.

A 14-year-old boy from Aurora - a city off northeast Illinois on the Fox River west of Chicago has been charged with harassment through electronic communications. The teen is facing felony charges for threatening the life of a school official on MySpace.com.

Dan Ferrelli-a spokesperson for the Aurora Police Department said that the 14 year old student at Bednarcik Junior High School in Oswego allegedly posted the threat on the social-networking Internet site at the beginning of the school year, but the posting wasn't discovered by school officials until Monday.

After getting informed about the posting from a "third party", the School officials immediately contacted police, Ferrelli said.
Todd Colvin, assistant superintendent of Oswego Unit School District 308, said, “It's pretty new to us," adding that “It's something schools are all going to have to be dealing with.”

He said, “The school administration is conducting an investigation into what happened and what was posted and who was possibly threatened.”

The Aurora boy, who was charged after being interviewed by Aurora Police Department Juvenile Detectives, is referred to Kendall County juvenile court system and released into his parents' custody, Ferrelli said.

However, session at the school ended Monday for summer, still an investigation is being launched by Oswego Unit School District 308, Assistant Supt. Colvin said.

Last month, another suburban Chicago school district determined students would be held responsible or answerable for what they post on Internet blogs and social-networking sites. Other school districts in the area and the country have also started proposing guidelines to hold students accountable for what they post online.

Starting next school year, all students in extracurricular activities in Community High School District 128, which involves Libertyville and Vernon Hills high schools, must sign an agreement that evidence of ‘illegal or inappropriate’ behavior posted on the Internet could be basis for disciplinary action.