43
Boardman police investigate comments on YouTube video
BOARDMAN
Township police are investigating an incident involving a video posted to a video-sharing website by two young girls after someone responded with a disturbing comment.
Two concerned parents, who are neighbors in the southern part of the township and whose young daughters are friends, reported to police Wednesday that an unidentified man was harassing their daughters on YouTube.
Parents told police the girls like to post silly videos on the site and sometimes respond to “challenges” from followers of their YouTube channel.
For example, someone might challenge them to post a video of them eating something disgusting, they said.
The last challenge, however, was from a man who asked the girls to lick each other’s feet. The girls completed the challenge and posted a video of it Tuesday, and then got a disturbing response from the man, their parents said.
The man reportedly posted a comment that said, “You’re so beautiful ... I want to kidnap you, tie you up with rope and gag you ... I live in Ohio, too. I’m right down the street from you. I see you on your way home from school every day. Have you ever been hogtied...?”
The man also said he wanted to lick the girls’ feet.
When the girls’ parents saw the comment, they removed the video from YouTube and contacted police and school officials, they said.
Police are investigating the incident as a case of harassment and importuning, which state law defines as solicitation of a person who is less than 13 years old to engage in sexual activity with the offender, whether the offender knows the age of the victim.
The charge is a third-degree felony for a first offense.