MI- Pinckney teens with phone pics of nude 14-year-old may face child porn charges

See earlier post re: students who received the pics.

10-18-2008 Michigan:

Pinckney High School students found to have a naked picture of a 14-year-old classmate on their cell phone will lose their phone and could be prosecuted, according to officials.

The school district is advising all parents to check their students’ cell phones for the photo, which started out as a summertime joke between the ninth-grader and her friends. The Livingston County Sheriff’s Department had originally asked for any phone with the picture for evidence. But parents have been complaining that the phones won’t be returned to them.

Regardless, the photo needs to go, Pinckney Community Schools Superintendent Dan Danosky said Wednesday afternoon.

“If they turn it in or erase it, they should know it’s on there and have some serious conversation with their kids,” he said, adding that the district is sending home a letter on the situation with high school students today. “We’re hearing reports from other high schools that the photo’s showing up on cell phones there. Welcome to the age of electronics. I’m sure the kid had no concept of what could happen.”

In a letter sent home to parents, Danosky said the district recommends parents talk to their children about proper cell phone use and the dangers of sending out pictures and personal information; contact cell phone providers about what restrictions are available for children and check phones for inappropriate photos.

“The advent of the electronic age has brought with it conveniences and capabilities unimaginable even ten years ago,” he wrote. “This incident raises the issue of what can parents do to prevent their son or daughter from making a bad decision, potentially with serious consequences.”

The Livingston County Sheriff’s Department investigation began in September after a teacher mentioned the photo to a sheriff’s investigator who was visiting the school for an unrelated meeting, Det. Lt. Todd Luzod said. The department currently has just under a dozen cell phones with a picture of the girl’s vaginal area — her face visible. But investigators believe the photo has been shared among at least 200 members of the student body, he said.

Students who have the picture on their cell phone could be charged with child pornography in juvenile court, Luzod added.

The easiest solution, according to the county’s highest law enforcement officer?

“They could just erase it,” Livingston County Prosecutor David Morse said Wednesday, comparing the photo to unsolicited junk mail. “You can’t prohibit something from coming to you in the mail. But it’s what you do with it once you receive it.”

It’s those who keep the photo or send it to others who are committing a crime, he added. He acknowledged cell phones already confiscated with the picture will not be returned, unless the owner pays for a computer forensics expert to verify the photo has been permanently erased from the phone’s memory, he said.

“They’re out a phone, yes. We won’t and can’t give them back because it contains illegal material,” Morse said, acknowledging the prohibitive cost of having an expert clear the phone. “It would be cheaper to buy a new phone.”

Pinckney High School Principal Jim Darga, declining to discuss particulars, said the girl was in school Wednesday.

“It’s embarrassing enough for the students involved,” he said. “I think the students understand now the implications of their behavior and the possibility of consequences.”

The sheriff’s office currently has a deputy trained in computer forensics gathering evidence for Morse’s review.

In a past case where a middle school student sent out naked photos of herself, punishment in juvenile court was aimed at educating rather than punishing her, Morse said.

“We made her do some research on the danger of doing this behavior: photos could end up on the Internet, things she wouldn’t thought could happen,” he said.

Regardless of whether charges are filed, officials hope students realize the seriousness of texting inappropriate pictures, Luzod said.

“The darn picture could be nationwide,” he said. “As soon as you send something out of yourself, it’s out to everybody, not just the students at the high school. A lot of people don’t realize that. Hopefully people will learn from this.”

Danosky said district policy says cell phones need to be turned off during school. But he said he faces a discipline dilemma if the students emailed the pictures while not in school.

“If a kid says ‘I didn’t do it here,’ then what do you discipline them for?” Danosky said. “I suspect we’ll probably tighten up those rules about distributing anything on a cell phone.”

The girl’s mother declined Wednesday afternoon through the superintendent to talk about how the incident has affected her family. ..News Source.. by Tammy Stables Battaglia