PITTSBURGH -- Web Sites like MySpace and Facebook are becoming more popular, but they could also open the door to more Internet crimes.

It's a new area for the legal community and a local case is putting it to the test.

Kevin Burd, 20, of Uniontown faces criminal charges, terroristic threats, identity theft, reckless endangerment and harassment charges.

He's accused of posting a racially charged MySpace page threatening African-American students at Uniontown high school all under the name and photo of a student there.

State Police trooper Thomas Broadwater said he traced the IP address used to create the page to Burd's home.

Broadwater said,"It's almost like a thumbprint or a telephone number,so to speak, that identifies a particular Internet account that is used to access or get onto an Internet site."

Burd was brought in for questioning.

Burd said," I was pretty scared I was sitting there for an hour handcuffed to a bench."

Burd denies the charges and said,"No I never even looked at the Web page."

But according to a criminal complaint, Burd told a state trooper that he "viewed it several times."

Burd insists a teenage female friend who had access to his laptop computer is the one who created the page.

He said she visited his home a few times a week.

That "denied any knowledge" of the Web site when questioned by investigators.

Duquesne law professor Mike Streib said, "It's an interesting case because it presents in my mind difficulties for prosecution in this area. You don't have anything identifiable like a face, a voice, and fingerprints. You have this anonymous message going out over the Internet that anyone could've typed. It's no different than if I took your car either with or without your permission, struck a pedestrian and took off and delivered the car back in your driveway."

Burd said prosecutors have offered him a deal of community service instead of jail time, but he'd rather go to trial.

He said, "This isn't my fault I'm not gonna do community service for something I didn't do."

And he thinks e-mails he claims were written by the girl who allegedly created the Web page will prove his innocence.

Burd says in the e-mails "she said it was just a joke, I'm sorry."

At Burd's preliminary hearing, when the girl was questioned she said, she denied sending any e-mails.