Note to self — never play prank on Georgetown Day students, faculty, or administrators. They’re not the sense-of-humor types.

According to The Smoking Gun, federal agents have gotten involved in what otherwise seems like a relatively innocent email prank at the tony Northwest school. As the story goes, a teacher’s email account was hacked and used to send emails to three students late last year, one obscene, two criticizing the students’ classroom performance. Reacting the way any well-meaning school administrator would, Principal Kevin Barr called the feds, who, recognizing the obvious threat to national security, quickly responded.

Two U.S. Secret Service agents and various Department of Justice investigators were put on the task, eventually tracking the hacker to the opulent home of wealthy real estate developer Herbert Miller and his wife, Patrice, who apparently have a child at Georgetown Day. The house — well, mansion — was raided, and off went the feds with two Apple G4 laptops, an iPod, and an external hard drive. No charges have yet been filed, leaving open the possibility that a dangerous, godless, and immoral computer hacker may still be lurking in the dark recesses of Georgetown Day, just waiting to send some more fake emails.

The Smoking Gun makes an interesting point:

But what we’re left wondering about is why two Secret Service agents and “U.S. Department of Justice Investigators” were detailed to probe this obvious teen caper.

According to the request for the warrant, the unauthorized use of the teacher’s email account constituted an “interstate” violation of a private and secured computer (the IP address of the hacker was registered in Seattle, Wa., hence the “interstate” element), justifying federal intervention.

We think it’s a little more basic than that. The NSA gets to have all the fun eavesdropping on national and international phone calls and emails, so why can’t the Secret Service and Department of Justice get to flex a little authoritarian muscle here and there?