The parents of a local teenager are upset there are seemingly no consequences after they say their son was a victim of an elaborate social media prank recently.

Michael Warner and his wife, Debbie Hennebury, say their son, Dayton, 16, was the victim of cyberbullying when he thought he had met a 20-year-old girl on Facebook.

Over the chat portion of the social media site, Dayton was happy that their new friendship was flourishing, spending more than two hours one night chatting with the "girl," whose Facebook profile picture showed her wearing a cheerleading outfit.

Hearing that the "girl" liked him, Dayton changed his Facebook profile to "In a Relationship."

Little did Dayton know that the person alleged to be behind the girl’s profile was a friend. Dayton’s parents found out Dayton was pranked after both of his older sisters did some investigating of the prankster’s Facebook page and were alarmed that Dayton, who is homeschooled, said he was "In a Relationship" on Facebook as he’s never had a girlfriend before.

Warner admits his son has some social issues that could have made him an easy target.

"My son wishes he could have [a girlfriend]," Warner said. "He thought he was having a conversation with this girl for a couple of hours the other night and he got the nerve to ask her out over texting and she said yes, so he was so excited."

But Dayton’s parents say that when they came to the conclusion it was a friend of Dayton who was behind the prank, their blood boiled.

Wendy Craig, a Queen’s University professor and head of psychology as well as scientific co-director of PREVNet, an anti-bullying website, said that while it may have been a joke, the incident was "obviously harmful, hurtful and it went over a long period of time."

"If it was a joke and it started off as a one-off and it’s mutually reciprocated as a joke, … but it wasn’t," Craig said. "It was taken very seriously and they kept it ongoing."

Craig said it’s not uncommon for a friend to pull a prank on an acquaintance.

"Cyberbullying is often perpetrated by somebody you know and often a friend."

Because it’s done by a friend, sometimes the prank is laughed off as a joke, Craig said.

"The reality is it had this adverse, negative and harmful impact on the child who experienced it," Craig said. "It was a joke to them but not the person on the receiving end. It was hurtful and harmful."

Craig said the perpetrator may not have initially intended the prank to be damaging.

"However, this behaviour was focused on a vulnerability that the victimized youth had and the impact should have been recognized," she said.

Craig said the perpetrator needs to put themselves in the position of the youth being victimized and think about the impact of their behaviour.

Warner and Hennebury reported the incident to Kingston Police but were told it wasn’t a criminal matter.

According to Kingston Police media spokesman Steve Koopman, there’s no crime with which they can charge the teen alleged to have orchestrated the prank.

Koopman didn’t talk about the specific incident but in general terms about the law and how it relates to bullying.

"There is no actual cyberbullying offence or section within the Criminal Code," Koopman said. "This is the issue we have to work with in this 21st-century digital world and being constrained in essence in 20th-century laws that were created."

Although the alleged perpetrator won’t be charged, Warner said he was told by police that they paid the teen a visit to warn him about such pranks.

Koopman said he understands the family’s frustration in not seeing justice.

Some incidents, Koopman said, may seem inappropriate or morally wrong but may not be a criminal offence.

"While we can empathize, we have to take a look at each and every case and say if this is an offence and worth investigating," Koopman said.

Changes to Ontario legislation in 2012 gave school boards a mandate to deal with cyberbullying.

Craig said that even though the victim of the prank does not attend school, the school board of the school the alleged prankster and his helpers attend has to deal with the issue.

"The school board has to deal with incidents of cyberbullying, that’s mandated by the legislation," Craig said. "If that school has been informed of that information, then that school needs to act on that information."

Craig said Ontario legislation, the Accepting Schools Act, a 2012 amendment to the Education Act, puts the responsibility on dealing with bullying issues on educators.

"I would be informing the principal of the school where the perpetrator goes and take that information to them," said Craig, who was recently invested in the Order of Ontario in recognition of her work in bullying prevention and the promotion of healthy relationships. "The school needs to act and the legislation talks very specifically about what they need to do.

"The legislation is quite clear: even though it doesn’t happen on school grounds, they have to address issues of cyberbullying that affect students in their school."

Hennebury said the situation could have been worse if she and her husband had not kept on top of it.

"We did catch this early," she said. "We knew what was going on and we were diligent parents and found out.

"What if Dayton didn’t tell anybody and Dayton continued this and something did happen that he ended up sending her nude pictures of himself?

"As a parent, how long do we have to wait? Do we have to wait for him to be emotionally scarred before any action can be taken," she said.

Warner said the laws regarding bullying should be changed to support victims.

Dayton said he was disappointed that his friend would pull such a prank, but he is not doing anything about it since his parents are looking for answers on his behalf.

"I knew that my parents would do something about it, so there was no point in getting overly frustrated and wanting to do something," Dayton said.

Dayton said the teen apologized but he believes it was not sincere, being more about asking Dayton and his family not to take any action against him that may affect his future.

"Not in person. He sent an extensive text apologizing," Dayton said.

Dayton said the boy also didn’t want the prank to affect their friendship.

"I said ‘we’re taking actions on what we can do. Please don’t text me again.’"

Dayton’s father worries that a troubled teen might commit suicide after a similar prank.

"There should be something that can be done more before an incident happens."

imacalpine@postmedia.com

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