IN- Racy ‘sexting' photos piquing police interest

1-11-2009 Indiana:

2 juveniles at local schools facing charges

The girl was upset about the picture sent to her cell phone.

A self-portrait from a classmate at Summit Middle School, the picture showed a boy from the neck down with his genitals fully exposed. The girl had received similar pictures from the boy before, she told police. Those times, she simply deleted the pictures and told the boy to stop.

This time, she showed the picture to her father.

It's been dubbed "sexting," or sending explicit pictures or videos by cell phone, and a recent national study found that one-fifth of teenagers have used some form of technology to send racy pictures of themselves to others.

While cases reported to local law agencies have been few, officials are taking notice. They think it's happening more than what's being reported and warn it's an activity that can lead not only to embarrassment and regret but to criminal charges as well.

"It's important that parents are aware of what's going on and what's being sent over the phones," said Officer Jeremy Tinkle, school resource officer for Southwest Allen County Schools who handled the case at Summit Middle School. "I don't think kids realize the repercussions. They think it's harmless."

It can be far from harmless. With technology making the sharing of photos and videos increasingly easier, the sender of such photos or videos loses control of where they end up. Criminal charges can be brought against people sending such images or even having them on their phone.

Tinkle arrested the boy in the Summit Middle School case on a felony charge of obscene performance, and the boy will be tried in juvenile court.

Another juvenile arrested recently at a local school in a similar case was charged in juvenile court with possession of child pornography, according to Allen County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Michael McAlexander.

There's also emotional damage that can be done to a teen if his or her picture gets passed around at school, something some don't account for when taking or sending such images.

"With the easy accessibility of photos and videos, even now with the cell phones, once that stuff is done, it can be promulgated anywhere," McAlexander said. "Kids need to be aware they can be damaged this way, and it can be a crime if it shows nudity."

A recent survey of more than 1,200 teens conducted by Teenage Research Unlimited, an analyst firm based in Chicago, found that 20 percent of them have used technology to send explicit images to friends.

McAlexander said cases forwarded to his office involving such behavior have so far been rare, but that doesn't mean it isn't going on.

"It's certainly not an epidemic, but anecdotally we're hearing more and more about kids trading photos," he said.

Tinkle, who has been a school resource officer for about six months, said the only case he's been involved with was the one at Summit Middle School.

But he also thinks many cases go unreported, and unwilling recipients of a racy photo or video aren't lining up to share with authorities what's on their phones.

In the Summit Middle School case, the girl's father got police involved.

"I'm sure it goes on quite a bit," Tinkle said. "A lot of times what happens is girls get these types of messages and they might feel embarrassed.

"They don't want to talk to anyone at school, the police or their parents about it, so they just fluff it off."

Schools are also starting to take note. At Fort Wayne Community Schools, students can be expelled, suspended or placed in an alternative program if found with any type of pornography, according to district spokeswoman Krista Stockman.

If possessing such pornography is a crime, law enforcement can intervene.

Stockman said there was no specific program addressing sending explicit photos by phone but said it could come up when a student's "rights and responsibilities" are reviewed with officials.

Students at Northwest Allen County Schools are not allowed to have cell phones in the school, Superintendent Steve Yager said. If a phone is found, it is confiscated, and the only reason it would be opened would be to see who it belongs to, he said.

If any racy pictures are on the phone, it's given to the district's school resource officer from the sheriff's department, Yager said.

East Allen County Schools doesn't allow phones in its schools either, according to spokeswoman Tamyra Kelly, and anyone caught with pornographic images would face disciplinary action.

Before Tinkle became a school resource officer for the district, Southwest Allen's Homestead High School had its own case in late 2007 in which a juvenile sent a video of himself performing a sex act to several girls in his class, according to a sheriff's report.

This year at orientation, school officials addressed students about sending such content, according to Tinkle. Parents have also been warned about such behavior, according to Anita Gross, social worker for Southwest Allen County Schools.

"We have addressed students and parents about how if they send something electronically," Gross said, "they can lose control of that content." ..News Source.. by Jeff WieheThe Journal Gazette