The Hermitage Middle School principal has sued four former students over “demeaning” and “demoralizing” Myspace.com profiles they created about him.

Eric W. Trosch, who was co-principal of Hickory High School at the time, said in the defamation lawsuit filed in Mercer County Common Pleas Court that the three profiles, created in December 2005, damaged his reputation — possibly permanently — humiliated him and impaired his earning capacity.

Trosch filed the lawsuit against Justin Layshock, Thomas Cooper and brothers Brendan and Christopher Gebhart.

Layshock publicly acknowledged creating a Myspace profile of Trosch in a federal lawsuit he and his parents, Donald and Cheryl Layshock, filed against Trosch, Hermitage School District, co-principal Chris Gill and Superintendent Karen A. Ionta.

The Layshocks, who were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, said Justin’s profile was protected by the First Amendment, rendering the school’s punishment of Justin illegal. That punishment included a suspension and reassignment to an alternative education program.

The names of Cooper and the Gebharts had not surfaced publicly before. Trosch’s attorney, John E. Quinn of Portnoy & Quinn, Pittsburgh, said the names were uncovered by Hermitage police.

Mercer County District Attorney James P. Epstein would not confirm whether Cooper and the Gebharts were identified as having created Myspace profiles in a criminal investigation conducted by Hermitage police. City Police Chief Patrick B. McElhinny, who has handled all releases of information concerning the Myspace investigation, could not be reached for comment.

Quinn said there was a fourth Myspace profile, which he called “the most graphic and lurid of them all,” but its creator has not been discovered.

Michael L. Magulick of the Pittsburgh law firm Wayman, Irvin and McAuley, who is representing Cooper, said he could not comment on the suit because he had not met with Cooper. He said a meeting is expected soon.

“It’s much too early to really comment on this,” Magulick said. “This is going to require an in-depth investigation and analysis.”

Donald Layshock said he could not comment on Trosch’s lawsuit because of the pending federal lawsuit.

Gina M. Zumpella of the Pittsburgh law firm of Walsh, Collis and Blackmer, which is representing the Gebharts, also declined to comment.

Trosch declined to comment.

While school principals are the subject of student graffiti, unflattering nicknames and other abuse at some point in their careers, Trosch felt the Myspace profiles “went far and beyond what you would see on a bathroom wall in a school,” Quinn said.

In his deposition for the Layshock lawsuit, Trosch said he first heard about one of the profiles on Dec. 11, 2005, when his daughter, Kelsey, a Hickory ninth-grader at the time, received an e-mail from a friend that said a profile of Trosch was on Myspace.