Teen commits suicide after deputy allegedly bullies him on Facebook

MOSCOW, Idaho (KTLA)  — Family members of a 19-year-old boy who committed suicide were asking for an apology Thursday from a sheriff’s deputy they said bullied the teenager via Facebook in the days before his death.

Andrew Cain was being sought by the Latah County Sheriff’s Office for driving without privileges and failure to appear.

Andrew Cain, 19

A deputy assigned to the case posted a photo of Cain on Facebook next a message saying, “We have decided that Andrew Cain is no longer the Wanted Person of the Week… he is the Wanted Person of the Month of June. Congratulations!,” according to local CBS affiliate KREM-TV.

The deputy also sent private messages to Cain on Facebook, his sister Alise Smith said.

Smith received a text from her brother early last week that said he felt like putting a bullet in his brain, KLEW-TV reported.

The message included a screen shot of the Facebook messages from the deputy, Smith said.

Smith was not blaming the sheriff’s department for her brother’s death, but believes the Facebook activity was a form of bullying.

“Eventually, it all just got too much to handle because other people were texting him and messaging him on Facebook and he just couldn’t handle all of the people telling him how awful of a person he was,” Smith said.

Sheriff Wayne Rausch was standing by the department’s policy regarding the use of Facebook.

But he told the employee who added the ‘‘congratulations’’ to the post that it was not appropriate, KREM-TV reported.