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Police: WHS Student Poses as Faculty Member on Social Media, Harasses Another Student

Feb. 26, 2015. On Jan. 9, 2015, Boone Police were notified by Watauga High School administrators that a faculty member’s social media account had been used to communicate inappropriately with a female student.

Investigation revealed the account was falsely created and used by a juvenile student of the school.

Sgt. Matt Stevens said that the female student notified her parents, who then went to school administrators and said, “This is creepy. This might need to be looked at.” It turns out that at about the same time, the faculty member who was being impersonated learned of this fake account.

“Initially we thought the teacher was doing something inappropriate, but very quickly we determined … [the social media poster] to be a student,” Stevens said.

A juvenile criminal petition, alleging a violation of North Carolina criminal statute 14-548.2 Cyberbullying of School Employee by Student, will be submitted to Juvenile Court counselors for consideration.

Boone Police Department considers carefully matters involving online impersonation and harassment. It also continues to urge our citizens to use social media with caution and to consider not only the personal ramifications of their actions, but the possible violations of criminal statues as well.