Seven students have been charged over a disturbing prank on their schoolteacher

A group of teenage boys performed a prank so disturbing, they have been charged.

Seven 14-year-old students were preparing dishes for a cooking competition at school when they decided to prank their teachers by filling crepes with semen.

The dishes were being judged by the teachers who ate the crepes in order to score the boys for a “Global Gourmet” contest.

The alleged assault on the teachers, who were not named, occurred on May 16 at Olentangy Hyatts Middle School in Powell, Ohio.

During an investigations, tests confirmed the food was contaminated, and charges were filed on the boys on Tuesday.

“I believe this is a form of ‘YouTube Flu’ where kids are influenced by dumb pranks they see YouTube ‘celebrities’ do — it is a game of getting views, clicks and likes,” Brad Koffel, a lawyer for four of the accused, told BuzzFeed News.

According to local reports, one of the teens brought a plastic bag filled with his semen to school on the day of the cooking competition before smearing it on top of the crepes prepared by the boys.

It is understood another boy also brought his semen to school in a bag but didn’t end up using it.

The teachers then ate the crepes, not realising they had been tampered with.

At the time of the alleged offence, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Tracy Whited told the Columbus Dispatch “one student filmed some of it, and the video made its way around the school and fortunately to school administrators”.

But the video emerged after the teachers had eaten the tampered-with dishes.

According to The Sun, the group had also planned to pour urine into barbecue sauce before serving it to four teachers judging the competition.

A third boy blocked the teachers’ view as the other two dripped the semen on the crepe, according to authorities.

Three of the boys have been charged with assault on a teacher, while the other four have been charged with complicity to assault a teacher — including one that has been charged with tampering with evidence for deleting the photos and video.

They will each face a judge in Delaware County Juvenile court over the next three weeks.

A lawyer representing four of the students said in a statement: “Everyone has worked very hard this summer to resolve these cases in a fair manner that takes into account the disgusting nature of this prank, while also balancing the fact that we’re talking about eighth grade boys.

“This is an example of how easily influenced kids are by what they see on YouTube and social media. They are learning an extremely hard lesson. We feel horrible for these teachers.”

According to Mr Koffel, the abhorrent nature of the prank has left “an indelible mark” on the students.

“They’re eighth-grade kids. Psychologically, they clearly are suffering an amount of trauma because of their dumb actions,” he said, as reported in the New York Post.

Mr Koffel also suggested the charges against the teens were too harsh and required prosecutors to prove they had caused physical harm. He did admit, however, the students’ actions caused “psychological harm” to the teachers who ate the tainted crepes, the publication reported.

The high school also released a statement, saying it is “saddened” these charges “are a result of actions that took place at one of our schools”.

“We are aware that charges have been filed in this case and we thank law enforcement for their due diligence,” the statement read.

“Our teachers deserve respect and kindness, and anything less than that is completely unacceptable. We will continue to support law enforcement in every way possible.”