Police in Cherokee County, Georgia, are investigating about 40 instances of senior pranks serious enough to warrant law enforcement intervention. One of those includes a mutilated animal dropped on a neighbor's porch.
Monika Cox-Young's yard was destroyed because of kids participating in the pranks. She has a son who is a junior at the local high school.
"It's one thing to toilet paper someone's yard, but to leave trash, mutilate an animal and defecate on your porch, that's extreme to me," Cox-Young said.
>>Click here to see video about the investigation
All across the country parents, police and school administrators are saying seniors are crossing the line from good natured fun into criminal territory.
In Dekalb County, Alabama, a group of students spread so much chicken feces and trash across campus the school had to close early for the year in order to clean up. A band director was suspended for her rant over the mess.
In Wentzville, Illinois, students uprooted three 35-year-old trees and damaged the root structure so badly they had to be destroyed. Campus administrators called the trees "irreplaceable."
In Roswell, New Mexico, students broke into school in the middle of the night and spread cow manure, syrup and flour on the floor, used Sharpies on the tile, peppered with walls with paint balls and destroyed furniture.
In Los Lunas, New Mexico, a student breaking into the school for a prank set off a fire extinguisher at a security guard, putting him in the hospital.
In Collier County, Florida, four students were arrested after an officer had to use pepper spray to subdue students fighting over a water balloon prank gone wrong.
In Monroe County, Tennessee, 100 students were barred from graduation, the principal was suspended and the school resource officer was fired for lying when a group of students poured urine and baby oil on the floors and released chickens into the school. The resource officer let the students into the building.
Not only are investigators ready to press charges, but police in Georgia have a strong warning for parents who they say may be in denial their children are involved:
"If your kid is out after two in the morning you might assume he or she is involved in this, and you need to stop them," said Lt. Jay Baker with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.
Seniors should maybe take a lesson from those at Fayetville Academy in North Carolina, where students got a good laugh without landing in jail. They put their school up for sale on Craigslist for $20.15 million.
"I tell seniors: A good prank creates no extra work for anyone else and it makes everyone laugh. You're not hurting feelings and you're not damaging things,” head master Ray Quesnell said.
Here's a list of 17 senior pranks from Seventeen magazine that are all in good fun, and aren't likely to land you in jail.
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