Sexting News Archives from 2011

Sexting Scandal Started with Boys Sharing Ex-Girlfriend Photos - Nude pictures of Emmaus teens wound up on porn site.- An Emmaus High School sexting scandal started with boys sharing photos of ex-girlfriends, multiple sources have told Patch.
Some of the students involved did not show up for school on Monday, sources also said.
Police are investigating how nude photos of students wound up on an international porn Web site.
Students say they've known about the Web site for weeks and that the site is still active.
One student tweeted about how uncomfortable it is to walk around school knowing classmates have seen her naked. WFMZ reports that some students are bragging about being on the site while others are distraught.  Read More>>

'Sexting' youths placed on sex offenders register - VICTORIAN teenagers caught with raunchy images of girls sent to them via ''sexting'' have been charged with child pornography offences and placed on the sex offender register, ruining their career options and branding them for years.
In one case, an 18-year-old from country Victoria was sent by a female friend six unsolicited text message images of girls aged 15 to 18, topless or in underwear. When downloading other images and videos from his phone to his computer, the sexts were also transferred.
In the other case, a 17-year-old Melbourne youth and his girlfriend, also 17, filmed themselves having sex. After he turned 18, they broke up and he emailed two still images from the video to three friends, something he acknowledges was ''so stupid''. Read More>>

Two Florida teenagers arrested for sexting after girl sent boy photo of herself topless - A 15-year-old boy and girl have been arrested after teachers found that the girl had texted a topless photo of herself. The photo shows the 15-year-old girl posing in a mirror in her underwear holding her left breast.
Both were charged with transmission of pornography by electronic device and taken to Hernando County Jail before being released on bail.
The boy told the school that he had forwarded the photo to another boy on May 27 and was afraid to go to school after he had been threatened for spreading the photo.
At present, minors can be charged with felonies and sentenced as sex offenders if found guilty of sending nude or sexually explicit photos or videos to another minor using computers or cell phones. Read More>>

Teens nabbed for sexting - The Marquette County Prosecutor's office recently authorized four felony juvenile petitions to three individuals - two females and a male - following a monthlong sexting investigation by the Marquette City Police Department.
Two charges were levied: child sexually abusive material-possession, a four-year felony; and child sexually abusive activity-distributing or promoting, a seven-year felony.
The investigation focused on sexting - the act of sending sexually explicit messages or images through a mobile phone - among 13- and 14-year-olds who were sending provocative photos of themselves to other teenagers.  Read More>>

14-Year-Old High School Freshman Charged in Sexting Case - A 14-year-old high school freshman has been arrested in a sexting case. This new crime, which was spawned from the hyper communication of cellphones and the Internet, continues to be committed despite warnings by teachers, the media, and officials that sexting can lead to serious consequences.
The freshman decided to exact revenge on a former girlfriend who denied him sex. While erroneously thinking he was teaching her a lesson by posting nude photos of her on Facebook, he ended up with the short end of the stick. The boy was arrested on charges of possessing child pornography, since the girl in question was a minor.
The boy is currently being held at a Roswell-area juvenile detention center.  Read More>>

Schoolboys caught 'sexting' - A group of Rotorua teenagers have been counselled by police after inappropriate "sexting" messages were discovered on a boy's mobile phone.
It has prompted warnings for parents to remind their kids about the risks of technology and monitor the usage of Mobile phones and computers.
Sexting is sending sexually explicit messages, photos or videos via mobile phones. It's an issue on the rise around the world.
Some Australian teens reported exchanging naked images of themselves as they enter relationships - as a form of "insurance" to ensure they can retaliate if anything inappropriate is passed on about them.
A Rotorua police officer was called to investigate inappropriate images found on a schoolboy's mobile phone last month.  A teacher saw photographs on the device of what they believed to be girls under 16 in various states of undress.
The boy said they were local girls and he was not the only boy to have received their images. He claimed almost half a dozen boys in the city had seen them.  Read More>>

'Sexting' Could Land Verdigris Teens On Sex Offender List – Police in Verdigris are hauling teenagers into the police station to warn them that sending partially nude and totally nude photos of themselves to others is illegal and they can be arrested for it.
Detective Hester says what really worries him is the age these kids are starting sending these graphic photos, as young as 12 and 13 years old.
Plus, he worries about the social consequences of these photos coming back to haunt these kids in years to come. He says we all did stupid things as teenagers, but they weren't recorded.
"These younger kids, just don't understand how and when it can come back to affect their lives," he said. "They want to run for office or have a child, the thing pops up."
Police say it's a huge problem: kids taking pictures of themselves or each other, undressed and sending them to a boyfriend or girlfriend.
That alone is considered child porn. The problem is when a break-up happens and these pictures get spread to 300 or 400 people at a time and downloaded onto the internet, sometimes for revenge.
Then they spread to other countries and before you know it, that intimate picture meant for one is seen by millions and there's no way to get it back, no way to stop it, it's out there and accessible forever.  Read More>>

High school students called in over "sexting" incident - Some students were brought into Wells High School Principal Jim Daly and Vice Principal Eileen Sheehy's offices three weeks ago after naked pictures of at least one student were sent over a computer outside of school.
The issue was brought to light by a parent who contacted the Coast Star, who has asked to remain anonymous, using the pseudonym "Pat."
Pat said a 15-year-old boy was caught with photos of a naked WHS freshman girl on his iTouch, and the photo had circulated between at least five of his male friends.
Pat also said that after further discussing the matter with one of the children involved, at least four other girls were alleged by the teen to have sent naked pictures to boys over the school year.
Sheehy declined to comment on how many students were involved in the incident, but said it was a mix of boys and girls. She said those students were educated about the harms of sending naked photos of themselves or others, and informed that it is against the law if they are under 18.  Read More>>

One in four pupils admit swapping porn images of themselves by text message – A disturbing number of children – some as young as 11 – are taking pornographic images of themselves and swapping them with friends via text messages or the internet, experts warn.
A survey reveals that 40 per cent of 11- to 14-year-olds have used their mobile phones or computer to send pictures of themselves or receive naked or topless images of friends.
And more than half of youngsters who sent these images – a trend known as ‘sexting’ – did so knowing the pictures would be passed on to a number of recipients.
And four in ten of the 11,000 children surveyed thought it was ‘appropriate’ to circulate pictures of topless girls in their school.
Outraged parents have urged others to monitor their children’s mobile phones and internet use. The proportion of young children “sexting” is shocking. The driver of it is boys’ attitudes to online porn, which is now far too accessible. Read More>>

Boy of 14 accused of child pornography after convincing girl his age to send him sex text - A 14-year-old boy in Kentucky has been accused of child pornography in a federal court case set to make legal history.
The case in Kentucky involves the unnamed boy allegedly distributing a 10-second sexting video clip of a girl, also 14, that she made of herself.
The girl apparently had a crush on the boy, who said he would only befriend her if she made an intimate film of herself and sent it to him on her cell phone.
She sent it to him and, a few weeks later, a friend of the boy allegedly convinced him to transfer the cell phone video to his computer.
From there, it was a small step to uploading the clip on to the Internet.
The complaint said the video was 'received by students and was in many cases uploaded by the high school students to their iPods in order to share the sexually explicit video with as many students as possible'.  Read More>>

Freeport parents react to widespread 'sexting' allegations - Parents in Freeport are looking for answers after an investigation into a possible sexual assault at a school uncovered a widespread "sexting" problem.
"I’m pretty concerned," said Gina Garcia, a parent. "I have a daughter in the seventh grade here and I’d like to know what’s going on." Phone monitoring could help.
What has so many parents concerned are lewd images found on cell phones—pictures of young girls that may have been forwarded to several students.
The sexting　allegations sprang from a sexual misconduct investigation involving a female student and two 14-year-old boys. The boys told 11 News the girl and one of her friends had sent them nude photographs, and that dozens of other girls had shared similar pictures with other students.  Read More>>

Sexting in the News from 2010

Mother catches teen sexting with older man - It's a parent's worst nightmare -- finding out their teen is sexting with someone more than twice their age.
It's a reality for a Chesterfield family. They caught their 15-year-old daughter texting a 43-year-old man and now her mother wants him behind bars.
The pair met online and knew they'd be in trouble if they were ever caught. The mother wants to warn all parents to watch what their children are doing online and who their text messaging.
She never thought her 15-year-old daughter, Cheyenne, would be guilty of sexting, and definitely not with a 43-year-old man from New York.
In the phone she found out that Daffy had nicknamed her daughter "Bunny" and had planned to take her virginity. Read More>>

Three teens added to sex offenders registry for relatively minor Sexting offense - A 14-year-old boy and two 13-year-old girls will spend the rest of their lives paying for a error of judgement made in their teens.
The Chinook Middle School students were formally charged Friday in juvenile court with felonies stemming from an incident in which they allegedly used their mobile phones to pass on nude photos of a 14-year-old girl.
Each of the three students involved have been charged with a single count of dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. It is a class C felony, and carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in juvenile detention.
However, anyone convicted of the offense is required to register as a sex offender, Read More>>

Middle school students suspended over sexting incident - Two Coweeman Middle School students will be suspended after sending explicit photos of themselves to each other using their cell phones, Kelso police said.
Police were called to the school Friday after a 13-year-old girl sent nude photos of herself to a boy, also 13. Police said the boy showed the photos to several of his friends.
The boy also sent text messages containing nude photos of himself to the girl, who then showed them to her friends, a police report said. Read More>>

Sexting News from 2009

Sexting and bullying leads to yet another teen suicide - Donna Witsell the mother of 13 year-old Hope Witsell appeared on the Today Show talking to Meredith Vieira about Hope’s suicide.
Just 11 weeks ago, Florida teen Hope Witsell took her life because she was being bullied and called a slut after she sexted her boyfriend with a topless picture of herself.
Not only did she get attention from her school, but that of a high school nearby. Her classmates bullied her incessantly to the point that Hope could no longer bare the torment. Read More>>

Sexting Probe at Bristol Middle School - At least four teenagers are suspected for passing around a naked photo of a Bristol Middle School student.
Bristol Police say an 8th grade girl, 14, took a photo of herself topless with her cell phone and then forwarded it on to a boy, who then sent it to several other students. It quickly spread around school, and now parents say they're both shocked and disappointed.
"It's very scary because my son has a cell phone," said Candice Sorenson. "I'm very shocked actually." Read More>>

Police Investigate Stillwater Teens for 'Sexting' - Police are investigating several Stillwater Junior High students in Stillwater accused of texting each other a partially nude photo of a fellow student.
Representative Anastasia Pittman said it's possible that the young teens could be convicted of child pornography for sending a nude photo of a peer because of the way Oklahoma's laws are written.
Statistics show 20 percent of teens admit to "sexting" or sending nude photos phone to phone. At Stillwater Junior High, 3 boys, ages 13 to14, are now accused of it.
"In today's society they need to know anything they do like that can stick with them for a lifetime," said Stillwater Police Captain Randy Dickerson. Read More>>

14-year-old faces kiddie porn charges for sexting nude photos of classmates - They call it sexting but police say it's serious.
There's debate in Milwaukee because a 14-year-old boy is facing child porn charges. Police say the boy threatened to spread rumors about the girls he targeted if they didn't send him nude and semi-nude pictures. They did.
 Police say they found 80 images from several girls on the 14-year-old's cell phone. One nude snapshot of a girl was found on hundreds of phones.
When you have 14-year-olds exchanging photos of sexually explicit activity involving 14-year-olds, that's child pornography Read More>>

'Sexting' teenagers face child-porn charges - After his former girlfriend taunted him, Phillip Alpert remembered the nude photos she e-mailed to him while they were dating.
He took revenge with an electronic blast — e-mailing the photos of the 16-year-old girl to more than 70 people, including her parents, grandparents and teachers.
Three days later, Alpert, then 18, was charged with transmitting child pornography. Today Alpert is serving five years of probation for the crime, and he is registered as a sex offender — a label he must carry at least until he is 43. Read More>>

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