Yahoo Finance Michigan fan gets 12-month sentence for violent threats toward Ohio State during 2018 football game
A Michigan fan who made violent threats toward Ohio State and members of its football program was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday.
Daniel Rippy, 29, was given a 12-month and one day prison sentence for his threats toward the school during Michigan and Ohio State’s annual rivalry game in 2018.
Rippy previously pled guilty to sending a message to Ohio State via Facebook messenger saying the school was “going to get shot the f--- up” and that he was going to hurt specific players and even then-head coach Urban Meyer.
The judge sentencing Rippy said Tuesday that the threats needed to be taken seriously in an age of mass shootings and violence.
Federal Judge Algenon Marbley had harsh words for Rippy during Tuesday's sentencing done via video conference because of the coronavirus pandemic. Marbley referenced the mass shootings at Columbine High School in 1999 and Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 as he lectured Rippy on the seriousness of the threats against college athletes just playing a game.
"It's college competition. That's all it is,'' Marbley said, but added that because of other acts of violence at schools: "We have to take this seriously, because it happens.''
Rippy said at his sentencing that he felt bad for what he had done. Had he not accepted a plea deal earlier this year he could have faced a five-year sentence.
The sentence includes the 10 months Rippy has already spent in a Columbus, Ohio, jail for the threats. It’s also three months fewer than the sentence that prosecutors had originally asked for. His public defender said that Rippy needed access to mental health resources to “get back on his feet.”
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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