Bullied Student Charged After Recording Tormentors

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Shea Love's devotion to her son is obvious.

The pain a parent feels when her child is hurting is her heartache too.

"It's really sad, it's been really hard," Love said.

The South Fayette sophomore, Christian Stanfield, recorded seven minutes of his classmates' verbal abuse on his iPad, but was later forced by administrators to erase the clip.

But not before his mother listened to it. She transcribed some of what the boys said.

"Pulling his pants down and some things I can't repeat," she said. "Laughing and cutting up like it was a big joke."

Police were called. Christian was threatened with wiretapping, but the charge was reduced to disorderly conduct. A district magistrate found him guilty.

"I always try to do the best I can," Christian said. "It shocked me when this happened, 'cause I do not understand."

Attorney Jonathan Steele initially filed a private due process complaint with the district.

"Unfortunately, in their response to it," Steele said. "They relied heavily on the magistrate finding Christian guilty and took the position they did nothing wrong."

So, next is the appeal and a demand for an investigation by the office of civil rights. The case is getting nationwide attention. Shea and Christian are on a mission of their own.

"We can't just turn our back to this," Shea said. "I'm sure we can find an easy, quick fix, but he doesn't want to. He wants to help people."

"All those people who went through the same thing, even worse than I have," Christian said, "I'm glad they feel that I've given them a voice and that's what I want to do."