A Naperville Central High School freshman appeared in DuPage County juvenile court Wednesday on charges that he posted a photo of a black student with the caption “Slave for sale” on Craigslist.

The 14-year-old, who is white, is charged with two counts of committing a hate crime and one count of disorderly conduct. He was in court with his parents but did not speak during the hearing. The Tribune is not naming the youth because he has been charged as a juvenile.

The alleged incident began Thursday in the school lunchroom, Assistant State’s Attorney Lee Roupas told Judge Anthony Coco. The youth is alleged to have taken a photo of the student, also a 14-year-old male freshman, as they sat at the same lunch table. The youth then posted the photo on Craigslist with the caption “Slave for sale (Naperville)” along with other offensive language, Roupas said.

Prosecutors called the allegations “serious and aggravating,” and said the alleged actions put the victim’s safety at risk. The hate crime counts are juvenile felonies and the disorderly charge is a misdemeanor.

The youth, who left the hearing with his parents, is due back in court in December. The judge ordered that the youth and the alleged victim have no offensive contact while both are at school and no contact outside the classroom.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to stay as far away as possible while you’re at school,” the judge told the youth.

The boy’s mother, who put her hand on her son’s back in a supportive way during the hearing, told the judge that she had confiscated the youth’s phone. The ad has been removed from the site.

The boy’s attorney, Harry Smith, said his client and the other student would interact with one another because both are involved in the same school activity.

Smith said the student is serving an in-school suspension and his client and the victim have a meeting scheduled before the school principal where the youth will formally apologize. Smith described the pair as friends.

Naperville police became aware of the incident Monday, and DuPage prosecutors charged the youth Tuesday.

State’s Attorney Robert Berlin issued a statement Wednesday in which he called the allegations “beyond disturbing.”

“Hate crimes have no place in our society and will not be tolerated in DuPage County,” Berlin said. “Anyone, regardless of age, accused of such disgraceful actions will be charged accordingly.”

Berlin later said that hate crimes are “very rare” in DuPage County. Hate crimes involving juveniles are rarer, he said. He could recall only two in the past decade.

Berlin said no other students were involved in the recent incident.

Naperville Central Principal Bill Wiesbrook emailed parents about the incident over the weekend saying that when high school administrators became “aware of a racially insensitive electronic post (they) worked as quickly as possible to investigate and address" it.

The Naperville school district’s follow-up statement Monday said administrators are committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all students.

“As educators, we have a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of all students, especially those from marginalized and vulnerable student groups. Racial discrimination and hateful acts are never acceptable,” the statement said.

On Tuesday afternoon, the parents of the student in the Craigslist post, their lawyer and representatives from the DuPage NAACP held a closed door meeting with district officials to discuss the situation.

The incident comes just weeks after Naperville received national attention for a race-related situation at the Buffalo Wild Wings on 75th Street. In that case, two restaurant patrons said their group of 18 was asked by employees to move to different tables because a regular customer nearby didn’t want to sit next to black people. Buffalo Wild Wings said it fired two employees and banned the regular customer from its restaurants.

Naperville Sun’s Suzanne Baker contributed.

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