A Middle School Student Faces Felony Charges For Pranking His Teacher

Playing pranks on teachers is one of the oldest traditions in the book, but now one Tampa Bay middle school student’s attempt at a practical joke has landed him in serious trouble with the law.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office has charged Domanik Green, an eighth grade student at Paul R. Smith Middle School, with an offense against a computer system and unauthorized access, which is a felony. His crime? Using a password without permission and changing the background image on his teacher’s desktop computer.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Sheriff Chris Nocco accused Green of logging onto the school’s network and changing the teacher’s desktop to a picture of two men kissing.

“Even though some might say this is just a teenage prank, who knows what this teenager might have done,” Nocco said.

Green, interviewed by The Times, claims that students routinely used the administrative account. It was easy to remember the password: a teacher’s last name, which Green discovered by looking over a teacher’s shoulder.

“I logged into a teacher’s computer who I didn’t like and tried putting inappropriate pictures onto his computer to annoy him,” Green explained.

A substitute teacher saw the pictures and reported them to the school.

more: A Student Changed His Grades From F’s To A’s — And Now He’s Going To Jail

Sheriff Nocco hopes this case will serve as a warning: “If information comes back to us and we get evidence (that other kids have done it), they’re going to face the same consequences,” he explained.

After being held in a detention center over night, Green was released yesterday. In addition to his charges, he was suspended from school for 10 days.