Man accused of shooting threats during 2018’s Michigan-Ohio State game pleads guilty

Daniel Rippy, a man who was accused of threatening shooting violence directed at Ohio State football players and coaches, plead guilty to the crime in court on Wednesday, according to authorities via the Associated Press.

“Your school is going to get shot the (expletive) up and I’m seriously going to hurt the students and all the players from the football team,” Rippy posted from California to his Facebook account during the Michigan-Ohio State game in Nov. 2018. The Buckeyes would win that afternoon by a score of 62-39.

“Graphic threats of violence against anyone, but especially threats during high-profile events, are taken seriously and will be prosecuted,” David DeVillers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, said.

Rippy also threatened specific players and staff members on OSU, according to court documents. He had previously entered a plea of “not guilty” and claimed that someone had created a fake account using his name, though he had admitted to previously creating profiles himself.

Wood TV8 in Grand Rapids reported that Rippy was a graduate of East Kentwood High School and that he does have a criminal record in the state of Michigan, which include assault and domestic violence charges against him in 2009 and 2011. He was arrested for this on Dec. 28 and released on bond, but never showed up for a pretrial meeting and also did not show up at a halfway house as he was told to do. He would be arrested in January again and sent to Ohio.

Rippy is looking at five years in prison and a $250,000 fine at sentencing if he is convicted of the crime.

Few people are this insane, so we are not making a full-blown PSA out of this. We all have bad days on social media, especially on that last Saturday in November, but remember that there could always be actions for what you say.