Source: KOMO4 News and Grays Harbor Daily World
GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. -- An Aberdeen High School has been charged with malicious harrassment for the hateful comments he posted about another student on the popular Web site MySpace.com.

Update (3/14): Peterman gets 7 days in jail on reduced charge

Detectives say Brandon Peterman, 19, threatened to "hang" an African-American student at the school in a written message posted on the Web site.

Peterman is accused of bullying a 17-year-old student at the school by creating an online profile. Prosecutor Megan Valentine Peterman and his friends used the space to call the African-American student racial slurs and imply he was homosexual.

Valentine says the targeted teen didn't even know the profile existed until his sister discovered it three months ago.

The victim believes the profile was created to belittle him because "he is African-American and Peterman's friends think he is gay," according to court documents.

Peterman told detectives he posted the message as a joke, according to court documents.

The racially insensitive comment wasn’t posted on the black student’s own MySpace page. He doesn’t have one. Rather, another student usurped the black student’s name and crafted a fraudulent MySpace page over the summer.

The phony Web page included a rainbow-colored background, declared the black student’s sexual orientation as “Not Sure” and said he had “some extra baggage” in the space where one might describe his or her body type.

Startling to both the victim and his family is that someone used a cell phone at school to take an unflattering photo of him during class and posted that as the MySpace user’s photo.

The MySpace page uses the victim’s full name and can easily be found by anyone searching for the student’s name in the social networking site’s search engine.

Aberdeen Police detectives were able to identify a 20-year-old Aberdeen man who still attends some AHS classes as the person who created the fraudulent page. But Valentine said she couldn’t find any basis for charging the man.

“MySpace has been notified that the account is fraudulent, but it’s still up,” Valentine noted.

The page floated around among some students at Aberdeen High and elsewhere over the summer as several students linked to the page as an official “friend.”

Prosecutors consider the incident a crime since the threats "targeted the victim's race and sexual orientation."

"It's not something that's particularly unusual, but certainly this degree of hatred is something we don't normally see, this type of language," said Valentine.

If convicted, Peterman could face up to 5 years in jail.

The harrassment turned violent when one student used a racial slur and wrote "I'll hang you so fast if you ever tell on me ever again."

That message was posted by Peterman.

"It's a threat. He perceived it that way so it scares him," Valentine said.

Superintendent Marty Kay says teachers are investigating as well, but can't discipline the student immediately.

"If this did not occur during school hours, we're going to have a difficult time making the connection with Brandon," he said.

Full article: Teen charged for malicious MySpace message | KOMO-TV - Seattle, Washington | News
Student faces charge for racial Web post | Grays Harbor Daily World