PARK RIDGE, Ill. (STMW) – Two middle school students from Park Ridge have been charged with harassment in an alleged case of cyberbullying against a female classmate.

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The Emerson Middle School students, who are 13- and 14-year-old girls, both of Park Ridge, were charged Dec. 23 under a local ordinance and are scheduled to appear before the Park Ridge Peer Jury, police said.

According to police the girls are accused of setting up a page on the social-networking site, Facebook, that included offensive and derogatory statements about a 13-year-old girl. Requests to “friend” the page were then sent out to more than 80 classmates, said Park Ridge Police Cmdr. Lou Jogmen.

The father of the 13-year-old victim contacted police after learning about the site, Jogmen said. Two Park Ridge detectives interviewed about 10 Emerson Middle School students before identifying the two girls who were allegedly responsible for the Facebook page.

Jogmen said detectives spent more than 15 hours on the case, and he called it a “pretty substantial investigation.”

For the past several years, Emerson, in cooperation with the Niles Police Department, has held seminars for parents on the topic of cyberbullying and how to protect their children online.

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