YouTube the Crime, YouTube the Time: Fla. Judge Orders Online Apology

Criminal Justice

YouTube the Crime, YouTube the Time: Fla. Judge Orders Online Apology

Posted Jun 10, 2008, 10:41 am CST
By Martha Neil

Two cental Florida pranksters who posted a YouTube video of their drink-tossing attack on a fast food drive-through counter worker have been ordered by the judge in their battery and criminal mischief case to film and post an apology for their misconduct.

In addition to serving 100 hours of community service, paying a $30 cleaning fee and writing letters of apology, the unnamed 16-year-old driver and 15-year-old filmer were also sentenced to film and post an apology video on YouTube, reports Florida Today. Once they complete the sentencing requirements, their records reportedly will be expunged.

One of the reasons for requiring the teens to apologize in the same video-sharing site is to deter other teenagers involved in the trend of posting similar video attacks on others, says attorney Tony Hernandez, who represents one defendant. "You need to broadcast the apology so that the audience is seeing … there were consequences."

However, the woman who was attacked, Jessica Ceponis, 23, wonders how effective the YouTube punishment will be, since she worries that the boys will be treated as online heroes as a result of the online apology, notes the London Times.

"They'll be laughing about it in a year or so," she predicts.

The teens were prosecuted because Ceponis, after hearing from other customers about the original YouTube video of the prank, tracked them down via the YouTube video and their MySpace accounts. She then befriended them online and talked to the mother of one teen to confirm their identities before handing the case over to police.

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