Tonight on 20/20 ` No politicians, no experts; just two families doing the best they can. 'Mum, I can't stay here. It's hurting me.' Kiwis trapped below the breadline. You're worrying, 'How am I going to be able to feed the children?' What's it like when every day is a struggle? Jailed for having sex with her students. And she's farming out her kids so that she can engage in what is more or less an orgy. But is it possible she's the victim? They're grown men. It should not affect me or anybody else legally. And we all know about celebrity stalkers. Now, Cyrus has been the target of stalkers before, but this time the fella actually insists he's married to the star. But are you a stalker too? In fact, Facebook stalking is a growing trend. Many of us have done it. www.tvnz.co.nz/access-services Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora. I'm Sonia Wilson. Many of us may find it hard to accept that real poverty exists in NZ. We still tend to think of it, perhaps, as a problem affecting poor countries; that it only happens overseas. But what about the estimated one in four Kiwi kids who live in poverty; the mums and dads who skip meals so that their kids can eat; or the entire families sharing a single bedroom. And how did they get to be so poor? Was it through bad luck, bad choices or a combination of both? 20/20's Hannah Ockelford was invited into the lives of two families living below the poverty line. Their attitude might surprise you. It's a shame for them. That's how they see it. It's a shame on them. GENTLE GUITAR MUSIC For Ellen Pomare, it's watching her kids suffer the stigma of poverty that hurts the most. I showed him our bedroom, where he was going to say, and he goes, 'Mum, I can't stay here. 'It's hurting me.' I said, 'Why?' He goes, 'This is not us.' 'This is not how we roll.' Her 16-year-old son can't comprehend why they've lost their home and our now living with four other families in emergency housing. They've just two bedrooms to share and have to lock their allocated cupboards to protect what little they have. I just looked at the place and the people, and I was going, 'No, my daughter's not staying here with me. That's not right for her.' Being a teenage girl like that with two fullas down in the other single rooms. Ellen's daughter is crashing with her boyfriend. Are you feeling all right over there? Are you feeling all right over there? Yep. Are you sure? Are you sure? < Yep. Do you miss us? Yeah. This family's entrenched in what's arguably the country's biggest growth industry ` poverty. It feels like a really desperate situation you guys are in. It feels like a really desperate situation you guys are in. Yeah, a really desperate thing. Did you ever think you'd end up like this? Did you ever think you'd end up like this? No. (CHUCKLES) Honestly, I didn't. URBAN MUSIC Before ending up here, in emergency accommodation, this family of 10 had been staying with Ellen's parents. You guys want some rice risotto? Yeah, you fullas can have rice risotto. That's Ellen's family of 10, plus her two parents. Too many people for a tiny three-bedroom. < You've always got a smile on your face, eh? < You've always got a smile on your face, eh? Yeah. Gotta stay positive for my kids. So they won't know that I'm hurting at the same time. They don't need to know. I'm there to look after them, not them look after me. Ellen has come from a big family and wanted one of her own, but she never thought it would be like this. In the last six years I started finding it hard to feed them all, have clothing and all that kind of stuff for them. have clothing and all that kind of stuff for them. What's changed? The living costs changed. Prices going up, not coming down. Ellen earns $357 a week at the local kohanga reo, while her husband Ted's been unemployed for two years. Bye-bye. Most of their income is from family tax credits. They barely scrape by. Do the kids ever go hungry? Do the kids ever go hungry? No. Do you ever go hungry? (LAUGHS) I` Like, how I see it, I feed the kids first, then whatever's left over, I will eat. Come help me fold the clothes up. A big part of Ellen and Ted's tale involves spending too much. Did you ever worry about spending too much money? Did you ever worry about spending too much money? Yeah. But you just did it anyway. But you just did it anyway. Just to keep the kids happy. (LAUGHS) What about me? What about me? Oh, then you. (LAUGHS) Like so many people, Ellen and Ted don't know how to budget. Do you own anything? Only clothing. Cos everything else, we have to start all over again... from scratch. Right down to the spoons and forks. Gonna help me? Over the years, their debts have grown. And now they owe more than $34,000. Do you have any things? Do you have any things? Nah. Just share. Do you have clothes? Do you have clothes? Oh yeah. (LAUGHS) ALL LAUGH I thought you meant, like, valuables, like PlayStation games or something. Yeah, I did mean that. You've got clothes. What else have you got? Yeah, I did mean that. You've got clothes. What else have you got? A house. No, well, you don't have one of those at the moment. No, well, you don't have one of those at the moment. Yeah. We just have clothes. Oh, I have a rugby ball. < A rugby ball. < A rugby ball. Yeah, that's it. ISLAND MUSIC If Ellen and Ted don't deal with their debt, they could end up on the streets. Today they're taking drastic measures, with the help of He Korowai Trust ` the last social agency in Kaitaia prepared to step in. I've been, uh, briefed by the staff about your fullas' situation, and I couldn't think of a worse situation for you fullas to be in. The Trust is taking complete control of their money. It's budget boot camp for families like this, who are in financial crisis. It's designed just to interrupt the habit of, 'Oh, she'll be right.' There will be no phone, no internet, not even EFTPOS. But the bills will be paid and the debts tackled. The first 12 weeks are really really hard for any whanau, but you actually get to see your bank account growing. How did that go? How did that go? It went good. It was good. Is it a relief, getting a bit of a solution to all those money problems? Yeah, it is. It is a big relief, and I hope we stick to it for the next six years or so. With poverty comes health issues. Ellen's had all her teeth pulled because she couldn't afford fillings. And the kids get sick easily in the cramped conditions. What's happened to Adam? Um, I took him to the doctor's today, and he's got strep Type A. Have they put everyone on antibiotics? Yeah, so they won't get strep Type A as well. CHILDREN CHATTER IN DISTANCE All of Ellen's seven boys are promising on the pitch. And they all have a shot at the big-time, if they can stay healthy. That's a challenge when they're living in a community where infections like strep throat are rife. My name's Edward. My name's Edward. My name's Sidney. My name's Edward. My name's Sidney. My name's Adam. My name's Byron. And are you guys the rugby stars of the future? ALL: Dunno. ALL: Dunno. LAUGHTER You're winning awards, aren't you? What are these things in your hands? You're winning awards, aren't you? What are these things in your hands? ALL: Trophies. GIGGLING Are they all in rep teams right down to the little one? > Are they all in rep teams right down to the little one? > Yep. Right down to the little one, except for my baby baby. You must be proud of them. You must be proud of them. Yes, I am. You're strong for the kids. Are you strong for Ted, as well? You're strong for the kids. Are you strong for Ted, as well? TEARFULLY: Yep. How's he coping? He's not coping that well. He's finding it hard. He knows that I'm doing all the work. And he knows that he could help, but he can't help. Because he doesn't know what to do. URBAN MUSIC He got kicked out last week on Thursday. With the budget in hand, He Korowai Trust is helping Ellen and Ted apply for a state house. They're on a conference call with Housing NZ. Maybe if we were able to go away for 15 minutes, let us get the information; we have another phone conference. It's not easy. Bearing in mind I've got another appointment at 10 o'clock. They've got me pretty booked up today. Simple things like providing a birth certificate is a barrier. PHONE RINGS Eight copies at $80 each is simply unattainable. The priority around Ted and Ellen's application is going to be high. The issue that they're gonna have is what we've got available in Kaitaia that's going to be able to accommodate the family. For now, it's a waiting game. TENSE MUSIC Being on a low income's tough anywhere, but combine that with the bitter cold here in the deep south, and you're faced with an entirely new set of challenges. JAUNTY COUNTRY MUSIC Invercargill. It's where we first met Chris, at the beginning of winter. The only way I can afford to heat my house is to go and get wood. And that's the only way that I can afford to do it. JAUNTY MUSIC CONTINUES If anybody's cutting down trees they don't want, or sometimes they want rid of trees, I'll say, 'Well, I'll cut them down for you.' That's my leisure and my pastime. Do you worry that the kids' bedrooms are cold? Do you worry that the kids' bedrooms are cold? Yes. I do. He's a solo dad, and by his own admission, he lives below the breadline. You know, it was at the stage where I was cold at night in bed because I'd given the kids the blankets. Got a few more extras here for you, Chris. Got a few more extras here for you, Chris. Right. Not a problem. The kids mean Chris can't have a 9-to-5 job. Groceries today, is it? Groceries today, is it? Yeah. Payday's grocery day. He works part-time on the rubbish trucks, but it doesn't bring in nearly enough. It's very tough. You have to be on your toes all the time with it. You're constantly worrying about, 'Am I going to be able to feed the children? Can I pay this? 'How am I going to pay that?' I think we need this one. Depending on what bills need to be paid, Chris has between $40 and $70 a week for food. These chickens are quite a good price. They're normally over $10, so that'd be a really good tea, cos that will do us for tea, then it could do you for sandwiches the next morning as well. That will do us for two, maybe three, teas. And it's $8.37. I make sure the children's got, but for me, I'll do without. I don't care. Chris had a bleak childhood in and out of boys' homes in Ireland. He's determined his kids won't be dealt the same hand. CHILD CHATTERS Adding to the stress is a child with special needs. Good boy. She's got quite a few health needs. And having the children, I need a decent car. I need to get them to hospital appointments and to kindergarten and so on so forth. He's paying the car off. It's an added expense, but necessary. I'm lucky enough that my mechanic will let me drip-feed them what I can afford each week. What? Five bucks? What? Five bucks? Five bucks, 10 bucks, 20 bucks. Whatever I can do. Would you give Aunty Georgia the book? Oh, have you got the book for me to sign? Oh, have you got the book for me to sign? Ohh, there you go. Thanks, mate. Chris is used to the juggling act. You always have to think positively. You know, and when things start getting you down, or you just want to hold your hands and cry, you've just got to pull yourself up. You know, you've got to, for the sake of the kids and yourself. Has your past motivated you to be the best dad you can be? Has your past motivated you to be the best dad you can be? Definitely. Very much so. Sometimes there are small wins ` a little light in what can be a dark existence. At the minute I'm looking into an option of maybe buying a house, because in Invercargill it's cheaper to own than rent. By the end of winter, and with help from friends, Chris has managed to do just that. This is the new place. Need to build a fence, keep the kiddies in. You have to stay positive. And you have to not make rash decisions and think about nuts and bolts and work your way forward. CHEERFUL MUSIC KIDS CHATTER Are they naughty because they bit you? Are they naughty because they bit you? Yeah. it's a big break in a cycle that's tough to get out of. CHEERFUL MUSIC CONTINUES back in Kaitaia, it's been a week since Ellen and Ted took stock of their situation and got the help they needed. Now they're in their new home. Hello. Hello. Hi. Do you wanna come in? With Housing NZ's help, all 10 of them are once again under one roof. We've got Hamish and Carolina back. They're starting to get things they can call their own. Family members and He Korowai Trust have been helping out. Where'd you get the table from? Where'd you get the table from? My brother-in-law bought it today... for 80 bucks down at the second-hand shop. But we've got to get some chairs for it. And where are the couches from? And where are the couches from? One set of couches from Red Cross, and the other one from my neighbour. The kids fill up the three bedrooms, while Ellen and Ted sleep in the lounge. It's not ideal, but it's theirs. Now I can call this as our home for now, for me and my family. < And that feels good. < And that feels good. Good. It feels perfect. LAUGHTER Both Ellen and Chris have found security in having a sanctuary to call their own. It's a positive start in what's always going to be an uphill battle. I want to give my children everything. But you can't. You know, and that's hard. But on the same hand, you've got to remind yourself it's not the monetary things that the kids need. It's me and the time and love that I give them. Hey, thank you, uh, so much to both of those families for sharing their stories. I'm sure there's many more of you, um, out there in similar positions. Next up on 20/20 ` a teacher showing special interest in her male students. But who's the victim here? Aaron brings three friends, all football players, to Collep's home for spaghetti dinner. But prosecutors say they end up getting more than just a home-cooked meal. Their teacher reportedly puts on a lingerie show, pulling out sex toys, leading the four willing jocks to her bedroom. Tonight on 20/20 ` a Welcome back. Brittni Colleps ` wife, mother of three and teacher and currently in jail for inappropriate behaviour with five of her students. Tonight 20/20 talks exclusively with her from prison, and she's crying foul. She says that seeing as all the students involved were over the age of 18, she is, in fact, the victim in this case. 1 Welcome to Kennedale High School, just outside Fort Worth, Texas ` a conservative cow town. COW LOWS Brittni Colleps, a 12th grade English teacher is finishing up her first year. Petite and 28 years old, she's become wildly popular and chummy with the athletes in her classroom. And by all appearance seems happily married, living an idyllic life in the suburbs, raising three children. I'm hearing your side of the story. Now, Colleps is no longer that popular teacher at Kennedale High. These days, she's in a yellow jailhouse jumpsuit with lots of time on her hands, five years to be exact. You read and you write and you just read. How did she wind up here inside county lockup? It all began with a simple text to a student, a star athlete in her class. Colleps asks him, 'Do you know what time the baseball game starts?' In the weeks that follow, Brittni Colleps will exchange 300 pages of sexually explicit texts with that student known in court documents as Aaron. And she's telling him to skip class and come to her classroom and have a rendezvous with her. They never have that rendezvous, it turns out. But Assistant DA Elizabeth Beach says Colleps became infatuated with Aaron, telling the football player, 'With all my other students, 'I look at them and see boys, but with you, I see a man.' And then there's this candid admission. READS: 'I'm an "anything goes in sex" kind of girl.' Sitting in the classroom, she goes into these very specific sexual text messages about the things she wants him to do to her body. READS: 'I like pulling hair, biting, scratching, spanking. I even like being choked.' How did you ever even wind up with a student? I'd really honestly rather not even talk about the details of that. Tonight, Brittni Colleps is breaking her silence for the very first time in this exclusive interview with 20/20. It's April, 2011. Colleps invites Aaron into her home to watch a movie. Her husband and children are away, and teacher and student end up having sex. And it won't be the last time. Aaron reportedly goes back at least four more times to see his teacher, but now he's not alone. On May 10th, 2011, Aaron brings three friends, all football players, to Colleps' home for spaghetti dinner. But prosecutors say they end up getting more than just a home-cooked meal. Their teacher reportedly puts on a lingerie show, pulling out sex toys, leading the four willing jocks to her bedroom. She's performing one sex act on one student, and she is simultaneously performing another sex act on another student. And she's farming out her kids for the night so that she can have four students in and engage in what is more or less an orgy. But this time, it's all captured on Aaron's cell phone by one of his pals in Colleps' bed. There are multiple participants in this particular act. Wow. Yes. Pretty, uh, graphic video. Pretty, uh, graphic video. A bit graphic, yes. The video so graphic, it's unsuitable for air. When they began filming, she said, 'Don't shine that light in my eyes.' Back at school, that steamy cell-phone video is grist for hallway gossip and bragging rights. I felt like I was victimised in that video, cos I did not` I never gave my consent for it. You were victimised, though... That's right. That's right. ...you're older than these students? Does`? Does age matter if someone's a victim of a crime? Colleps a victim? The law in Texas says otherwise. The teacher is called to the principal's office. Five days later, Colleps is arrested and taken into custody. What part of 'this is inappropriate' didn't you get? Well, it's not that I didn't get it, and I'm not saying that I don't take responsibility for my actions. I do. I should never be able to teach again. But she doesn't believe she should be in jail, since all the athletes she had sex with were 18 or older, technically grown men, Colleps says, who knowingly played their role in a tawdry sex game. Some people would ask, Brittni, if you wanted to have sex outside of your marriage, why didn't you turn to somebody your own age? You know, I can understand why people ask those questions. Because they're still students, even though they were at the age of consent. I'm not trying to say that it's not wrong for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with her students. But I don't think in this situation, where they were legal consenting adults, it should not affect me or anybody else legally. But in Texas, it does. The law clearly says that no teacher can have sex with any student at any age in 12th grade or below. These were 18 and 19-year-old boys who seemed to be consensual. Where's the crime? Who has more power in the classroom? Does the teacher have more power, or does the student have more power? The teacher has more power, and so the teacher can use that power to sexually exploit students in the classroom, even if those students are 18 years old. Even if they willingly... Yes. Yes. ...go along with the teacher in a sexual game? Yes. Is Brittni Colleps a sexual predator? In my opinion, she is. In no way, shape or form was I ever preying on anybody. I never coerced anybody to do anything. I never bribed anybody to do anything. I didn't offer grades in exchange for anything. Last month, a jury heard explicit and damning testimony. MAN: She said that she craved` that I had something that she wanted. All five of the teens end up testifying, beginning with Aaron. The very first thing was when she actually brought out some toys. What happened with the clothes? What happened with the clothes? They came off. Everybody's clothes? Everybody's clothes? Yes, ma'am. Then the defence's argument. You look excited to be there. Would that be fair to say? Yes, ma'am. You were happy to be there. Is that right? Yes, ma'am. Are they victims? Are they victims? Not in my opinion. They didn't feel like I victimised them. They didn't feel like victims, you know, last year. They don't feel like victims now. And they didn't want anything to happen to me either. In fact, one student wanted to testify on his teacher's behalf, says defence lawyer Lex Johnston. Do you feel like a victim? No, sir. Did you know what you were doing back then? Did you know what you were doing back then? Yes, sir. Not a single one of them feels that they are victims. They didn't want this to go to court. Do you think what she did was wrong? Morally, yeah. These were men who pursued her, took advantage of a` of a mother who's separated from her husband. Wait a minute. You're saying the guys took advantage of her? Wait a minute. You're saying the guys took advantage of her? Yes. We're supposed to feel sorry for Brittni? I feel sorry for Brittni. The jury apparently did not. They find Colleps guilty of 16 counts of inappropriate behaviour with a student, sentencing the teacher to five years in prison. Next on 20/20 ` we hear from the husband and father who had to sit through court listening to the evidence of his wife's betrayal. To hear that she had slept with five of her students... most have been tough. (INHALES DEEPLY) (EXHALES DEEPLY) And what he does next surprises just about everybody, when 20/20 continues. (UP-BEAT MUSIC PLAYS) (UP-BEAT MUSIC CONTINUES) Sanitarium Up&Go, with the protein, energy and dietary fibre of two Weet-Bix and milk. Tonight on 20/20 ` a Welcome back. In part two of our story After-School Care, we hear from the husband forced to listen in court as the details of his wife's group sex with five of her students is made public. Left looking after the kids and publically humiliated, his response is perhaps not the one you might expect. It's sentencing day in a Fort Worth, Texas, courtroom, and things are not going well for high-school English teacher Brittni Colleps. We do not recommend community supervision. She's slapped with a harsh sentence. Five years behind bars for having sex with five of her students and staging what prosecutors would call a sex-toy-filled orgy. Does it matter whether or not they were having sex toys and they had videotape going? That's not the thing that sent it to trial, but that certainly is relevant evidence that the jury got to hear about. I recently met Brittni Colleps in this Fort Worth jail. Now locked up, she's never spoken about her case until sitting down exclusively with 20/20. Your kids are what ages? 8, 6 and 5. How did they react to the idea that you would possibly go to jail? You know, it was really hard. They started crying and,... (SIGHS) you know, saying, 'Mommy, we don't want you to go to jail.' When you think about where you are now ` you're 28 years old, you have three children, you were a schoolteacher. How did you wind up in this mess? People hit rough patches in their lives, personally, emotionally, whatever the case may be, and I think that's what happened to me. I mean, for that period of my life, I just disregarded everybody else and pushed everybody away from me. So your husband had no idea this had happened? So your husband had no idea this had happened? Right. Colleps joins a list of female teachers who went too far with students, some leaving families in shambles, others with husbands betrayed. I was mad. You know, I wanted... I really just wanted to run away. 31-year-old Christopher Colleps would learn of his wife's deceit while serving as an army specialist in Louisiana. To hear that she had slept with five of her students must have been tough. It was tough. It was... (SIGHS) It was the toughest thing I've ever had to hear. It was the toughest thing I've ever had to go through. And I'm still going through it. And more devastating, the evidence of the infidelity ` that graphic cell-phone video of his wife in bed with four teenagers. < Was that hard for you to watch? < Was that hard for you to watch? Yes, sir. When I took my vows and said my vows to Brittni, 'till death do us part' means 'till death do us part'. You saw that tape. Yes, I did. What did that do to you? What did that do to you? It pissed me off. It made me mad. He was hurt, and he has every right to feel that way. Do you think what she did was wrong? I think it was wrong against me and our marriage, but I don't see the crime outside of that. What if these boys had been 16 or 17? That's a different story, because that's illegal no matter if they're students or not. The boys, as everybody calls them in this situation, are not boys. They're grown men. Grown men, not minors, he points out, as with some of the more infamous cases over the years. Just yesterday, Sarah Jones, the Bengals cheerleader and former teacher accused of having sex with a 17-year-old student, was released from 180 days' house arrest. I think people are taking this whole student-teacher thing. Yes, he was a student, but he was not my student. Remember Mary Kay Letourneau? She served seven and a half years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student, even giving birth to two of his babies behind bars. I definitely knew that it was bizarre. And then there was Debra LaFave, arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old student. Her husband vowed to stand by his wife, but would soon file for divorce. A lot of people don't know what unconditional love is. A lot of people don't know how to love unconditionally. That means without conditions, and that's my love for Brittni. Did you think about leaving? For a little bit. You think there was outrage over the fact that this involved multiple people;... Yeah, I think, I think that's the case. Yeah, I think, I think that's the case. ...that you looked like a sleaze. Right. I think that had a lot to do with it. What happened with the clothes? What happened with the clothes? They came off. Everybody's clothes? Everybody's clothes? Yes, ma'am. Dirty details a husband is somehow now choosing to forget. SOBS: I love her with every part of my heart, every ounce of my being. At his wife's sentencing, Christopher openly wept, begging for leniency for the sake of the couple's three children. We told them... that Mommy did some bad things and made some bad choices. I'm asking you to give her probation. You don't think she should be punished? When our children get old enough, she has to look them in the eye and tell them what she did. That is punishment. The young men that she had sex with, are you angry with them? I am angry,... but me and God are working on that. I visit her once a day every day as long as they'll let me. That's as many visits as I can do a day. If they can tell me I can go twice a day, I'll go twice a day. There's reasons for everything, even though we don't have any idea what those reasons are. 'Luckily, I get visits, and so I get to see them. So, you know, that's a good thing,' and I just try to be as positive as I can. That's really all I can do. Next up on 20/20 ` celebrity stalkers. When fans cross the line into fantasy. Keep your hands up! Walk towards us! Now Cyrus has been the target of stalkers before, but this time the fella actually insists he's married to the star. I am. He has since plead not guilty to trespassing. This man kept a video diary as he constructed a bomb to send to pop singer Bjork. Look at this beautiful face. But I'm just gonna have to kill her. Tonight on 20/20 ` s Hi, again. They're hiding in the bushes, breaking into homes and claiming to be married to their favourite celebrity. Stalkers. They're crazy, right? But is there, in fact, a little bit of stalker within us all? CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICK In our celebrity-drenched culture, it's a sad but not altogether surprising fact that sometimes fascination warps into obsession. This man kept a video diary as he constructed a bomb to send to pop singer Bjork. Look at this beautiful face. I'm going to have to kill her. First let's get right to that frightening alleged stalking incident involving Miley Cyrus. Just this past month, police responded to a 911 call of a prowler at the Hollywood home of Miley Cyrus. Keep your hands up. Walk towards us. Now, Cyrus has been the target of stalkers before, but this time the fella actually insists he's married to the star. I am. She's my wife. He has since plead not guilty to trespass. Back in January, a fan-turned-stalker breaks into Mila Kunis' Los Angeles house. She isn't there, but the police say the stalker named Stuart Dunn proceeds to call her place home for the next two weeks. The police are telling us` They're calling him a stalker. Um, but it's a dangerous stalker, because anybody who breaks into your house is not just standing there trying to get an autograph. A few months later, the same guy shows up three days in a row at Kunis' Beverly Hills gym. Kunis is terrified; Dunn is jailed and later pleads not guilty to stalking charges. The paradox of all this, of course, is that celebrities want attention, just not the freaky kind. But now the new social media universe only complicates matters. Suddenly the mundane musings of your favourite star explode on your Twitter account. Pictures of how Taylor Swift spends her free time are on Instagram. Katy Perry details her night out on Twitter. And the Kardashians... Well, some would say that they're practically stalking us. Someone, somewhere is always watching. Today news broke that tennis champion Roger Federer has become the target of an online stalker. Social media has thrown privacy into a tailspin. Psychologist Seth Myers. There is so much information that people are able to get their hands on that it can really take the fascination to a level that becomes destructive. Occasionally, social media becomes the method for a true stalker's madness. And the targets are not just celebrities. Imagine you're home alone on Facebook when suddenly a death threat message appears. This isn't a movie plot, and 17-year-old Caley Boggs is not a celebrity. He said I had two weeks left to live before he brought me from point A to point B. For months this summer, Caley received these horrifying and relentless threats from an anonymous online stalker. It was just very nerve-racking all the time. Like, I never went anywhere by myself. Last month, police arrested 20-year-old Craig Wyatt Junior. Through Facebook, emails and cell phones, police say he had been haunting Caley and more than two dozen other women. Craig Wyatt may have thought it a joke, but it wasn't a joke to these victims. They took 'em serious. So did we. While Wyatt's case is obviously extreme, most of us understand the addictive quality of surfing social media. And it turns out the internet's voyeuristic appeal can bring out a little of the stalker in all of us. In fact, Facebook stalking is a growing trend. Many of us have done it. Flipping through photo albums and posts, never leaving a trace and all the while finding out the intimate details of our exes' lives. Sound familiar? It does to Tracy Clark-Flory, a writer for Salon. Well, so I found myself newly single and feeling a bit sorry for myself. So she pops on to Flicker to check up on her ex-boyfriend. And I saw a self-portrait that he'd taken, and it showed him wearing a wedding ring. (CHUCKLES) Ouch. Yes, exactly. But unable to stop looking, Tracy ultimately finds herself peeking in on his wedding pictures. It was very surreal. It's one thing to hear about an ex getting married. It's a totally different thing to be a virtual bystander to the actual ceremony. That fits neatly with the findings of a recent study suggesting this kind of online stalking obstructs the process of healing and moving on from a past relationship. Or as Tracy puts it... It makes it impossible to really` to actually truly disconnect sometime from people you would rather be disconnected from. In the end, the internet remains a remarkable and sometimes risky tangle of connections. Best advice ` if you go spinning across the web, beware of spiders. All right, still to come on 20/20 ` school pranks. The best, the dumbest and the ones that can send you to jail. High school pranks are an age-old tradition. There are, of course, the standard classics now immortalised on You Tube. Doorstop glued to the floor,... (SCREAMS) ...the Post It notes all over the place. Who did it? Who did it? I don't know. There's foil,... GIGGLING ...Styrofoam,... LAUGHTER ...cups. In farm country they lean towards livestock. Tonight on 20/20 ` a Welcome back. School pranks ` harmless fun, right? But when is a prank just no funny any more? And could one prank see one American star student sent to jail? 1 It's that back-to-school time of year again, and it's guaranteed kids are already hatching some hilarious high jinks. (GRUNTS) I never really was that into doing homework. I was focusing on pranks. We say, 'I bet you can't catch this quarter from your forehead to this funnel in your pants.' At the time, they were mad because they had water down their pants, but then they realise it was a joke. Eric Striffler was the prankmaster supreme of his Manorville High School on Long Island, New York. Three, two, one. His principal had no choice but to take notice. He probably came on to my radar when he started to do his first couple of pranks, and then I started to look online and see what this young man was up to. I would say my favourite prank that I caught on tape was probably the courtyard dancing. What is he doing? It was such a blast, and everybody loved it. I prank people all the time. Even his mom. You son of a <BLEEP>. High-school pranks are an age-old tradition. There are, of course, the standard classics now immortalised on YouTube. The glued doorstop,... (SQUEALS) ...the Post-its all over the place. Who did it? Who did it? I don't know. There's foil, Styrofoam, cups. In farm country, they lean towards livestock. And the good old desks on the roof. Today we're going to do a prank on our teacher. It's a global problem. This is Daniel. They're Norwegian. Hello. Our teacher is gonna totally flip out. They pretend Daniel was killed by a chair, and in comes the teacher. (SCREAMS) Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Then she found out... it was a prank. (SPEAKS NORWEGIAN) Childish stupidity? Well, it can get even worse when grown-ups get involved, pulling pranks of their own. Teachers at a Minnesota high school tricked students into locking lips with their own parents. The students were blindfolded and told to guess who they were kissing. It wasn't the pretty cheerleader or the studly jock they hoped it was, but dear old mom and dad. They had luscious lips, so... The principal later forced into a mea culpa. I'm disappointed that this broke the way it did. I owe anyone who's offended by this an apology. Now, as adults, we feel it only right to bring you a cautionary tale from San Ysidro High School, San Diego, California. He was a grade A student. He was a good kid? He was a grade A student. He was a good kid? Outstanding. He was facing how many counts? Well, there were three counts at six years maximum apiece. He could receive the 18 years. This A-grade student thought it would be funny to set off explosions in campus trash cans... MEGAPHONE: Proceed to the south side of campus. ...resulting in a full-force response from the bomb squad. Elphbert Laforteza is in police custody tonight. Held on a million dollars' bail, the homecoming king, football stud with an ROTC scholarship in the bag. Guilty. Guilty. He lost his ROTC scholarship. That hopeful future you had before, it's no longer` it isn't there any more. When I was at school, it was water bombs and maybe pulling a kid's underpants up at the back. This is a different level. And now the kids can jump on the internet and find all kinds of information on how to do all kinds of very dangerous things. That's what Elphbert did. It's on You Tube. Must be OK, right? BOOM! Wrong. Elphbert brought a dozen so-called chemical works bombs into school. Just keep in mind that these things are` are very dangerous. The definition of these devices is lumped in there with hand grenades. He never thought he'd need you. He never thought he'd need you. And he didn't think he would have to spend five nights in jail. I think the line needs to be drawn when you're aware that someone in the situation might not laugh. Item number 16, Laforteza. Just two weeks ago, Elphbert had his record wiped. And I will grant the petition on that basis. Thank you, Your Honour. He's about to earn an engineering degree from the University of San Diego. As we said, he's a good kid, and he's our cautionary tale. I wanna advise seniors to try not to` don't participate in any kind of senior pranks that'll` that you think will damage your future. My advice for high school pranksters ` you need to finish high school; you do not wanna get kicked out. And if you're smart enough to get into MIT, you might turn a building by day into a giant game of Tetris by night or somehow get a fire truck on to a roof. Ingenious? Absolutely. But still deliciously childish. How do you get a fire truck on to a roof? Next week, uh, we've got one for all the teenage girls out there. Kiwi boy band Titanium ` we've got incredible behind-the-scenes access. But that's next week. In the meantime, if you wanna see any of tonight's stories again, head to our website... You can also email us... Or go to our Facebook page... and let us know your thoughts on tonight's show. Well, we're interested in your stories too for future shows, so keep those ideas coming in. Well, that's our show for tonight. Thanks for joining us. See you all next week.