VERMILION, Ohio—
Two Vermilion High School football players were expelled from school and are now facing criminal charges for what they wrote on Facebook about their coach and his family, police said.
"Unfortunately, in this situation you do not know how serious someone is about making a threat like this," Vermilion School District Superintendent Phil Pempin said.
According to the police report, the two 16-year-old boys wrote in part, "I want to murder him."
The other boy wrote "first degree" with a winking face.
The first boy responded, "They would have to make up another charge for what id [sic] do to him."
The second boy then wrote about sexually assaulting the coach's wife and making him watch, then getting his house.
Not only are the kids being expelled because of what they reportedly wrote on Facebook, they are also facing criminal charges.
Det. Dean Mayer of the Vermilion Police Department said this is the first time they have faced a Facebook-related crime.
"This is something new for us even. We took the case and took it to the Erie County juvenile prosecutor, had them review it, and came up with the charge of aggravated menacing," Mayer explained.
So what upset the teens so much to write such things online?
"It was shirts and cleats that they were supposedly supposed to have gotten that they did not get," Mayer said.
This is the first time Vermilion High School has expelled a student for something they allegedly put on a social media site.
"We are taking it very serious. You cannot make those threats in writing like that through that social media," Pempin said.
Two Vermilion High School football players were expelled from school and are now facing criminal charges for what they wrote on Facebook about their coach and his family, police said.
"Unfortunately, in this situation you do not know how serious someone is about making a threat like this," Vermilion School District Superintendent Phil Pempin said.
According to the police report, the two 16-year-old boys wrote in part, "I want to murder him."
The other boy wrote "first degree" with a winking face.
The first boy responded, "They would have to make up another charge for what id [sic] do to him."
The second boy then wrote about sexually assaulting the coach's wife and making him watch, then getting his house.
Not only are the kids being expelled because of what they reportedly wrote on Facebook, they are also facing criminal charges.
Det. Dean Mayer of the Vermilion Police Department said this is the first time they have faced a Facebook-related crime.
"This is something new for us even. We took the case and took it to the Erie County juvenile prosecutor, had them review it, and came up with the charge of aggravated menacing," Mayer explained.
So what upset the teens so much to write such things online?
"It was shirts and cleats that they were supposedly supposed to have gotten that they did not get," Mayer said.
This is the first time Vermilion High School has expelled a student for something they allegedly put on a social media site.
"We are taking it very serious. You cannot make those threats in writing like that through that social media," Pempin said.