Students At Hempfield Area Senior High School Under Investigation After 'Devious Licks' TikTok Challenge Leads To Damages
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (KDKA) -- A dangerous TikTok trend has reached a school district in Westmoreland County.
Two viral challenges on TikTok are calling for the destruction of school bathrooms. At Hempfield Area Senior High School, two sophomore students are being investigated for damaging a bathroom.
A soap dispenser and a mirror are just a couple of things missing from the bathroom. Law enforcement says it is the outcome of the "Bathroom Challenge" and the "Devious Licks" challenge on TikTok.
The school sent a letter to parents on Monday describing the challenges and saying anybody guilty will be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
"Please take a moment to reiterate to your son or daughter the importance of not bowing to peer pressure and respecting school privacy," the letter said.
Law enforcement said they are trying to put an end to the challenges.
"If you commit a crime like this, there a chance that it's going to end up on your criminal record. And now you're going to be eventually trying to get a job somewhere and you might have an institutional vandalism charge on your record and you have to explain to your employer why you have that," said trooper Stephen Limani. "It's not a good idea all the way around and that's why we're taking a zero-tolerance policy towards this. I hope parents take this time and realize we're not trying to persecute anybody. We are going to prosecute anybody to the fullest extent but our main goal is to educate them and knock this off."
There are cameras at Hempfield Area Senior High School that show who goes in and out of the restrooms.
"Two things are happening and the first, obviously, people are walking into the restroom and we have video of them walking in," Limani said. "The second thing is, they're making their own video and we have the ability to capture that video."
But instead of the "Bathroom Challenge" and the "Devious Licks" challenge, Limani has issued a challenge of his own to students.
"Let's make TikTok videos of doing something good in the community, cleaning up a highway, helping out a senior citizen," said Limani. "I'd be honored to be a part of those videos if students want to make videos where they are being productive in the community and challenge other schools."
Meanwhile, TikTok has responded to the challenge by deleting the content and redirecting people to its community guidelines page.
