In Portage, police have arrested a 15-year-old boy on charges of possessing child pornography. Two girls, ages 14 and 15, took nude photos of themselves and sent them to the boy. Allegedly, the boy threatened to post the images of one of the girls on MySpace if she didn't let him borrow her saxophone. The 14-year-old girl told police she had sent nude photos of herself to boys at several high schools, and she also had nude photos of another boy on her cell phone. The Northwest Indiana Times reports on the arrest of the boy:
A 15-year-old Portage High School freshman boy was removed from school last week and sent to the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center after police found nude photos of female classmates on his cell phone.I'm not sure what possesses young people to take nude photos of themselves and distribute them to others electronically where they can easily be widely disseminated, but it seems to be a problem that has reached epidemic proportions. Maybe parents shouldn't be buying cell phones for their kids with cameras. It seems like police in this particular case are treating the boy who received the images more harshly than the girls who produced and distributed the images. Once the images are uploaded to the Internet, they are likely to be widely distributed and people can unwittingly come into possession of what would constitute child pornography under the law. I guess this is what we get for glamorizing the antics of Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, Lindsay Lohan, et al.
According to a Portage police report released Wednesday, administrators at the school received a call Friday morning from a 15-year-old freshman girl's mother, saying a boy was threatening to post a nude photo of the girl on MySpace if the girl didn't let him borrow a musical instrument.
Administrators and police took the boy out of class and reportedly found sexually explicit nude photos of two girls on his cell phone.
The boy reportedly told police he wasn't dating either girl and that they sent the photos on their own. He also told police he never threatened to post the photos online if not given the girl's musical instrument, but said while they discussed his use of the instrument, he made her aware he still had the photos.
The 15-year-old girl told police she and the boy have known one another for about seven months.
The other girl, a 14-year-old, also told police she sent the photos of herself to the boy, but also said she sent nude photos of herself to other boys at Portage, Hobart, Chesterton and Lake Station high schools.
The girl told police she still had nude photos of herself on her iPod, which police saw, along with a nude photo of a boy.
Police said the 15-year-old boy is being charged with possession of child pornography through the juvenile court system. He was placed under arrest and taken the Juvenile Detention Center.
The two girls involved also could face juvenile probation, police said, and the other boys involved also may be charged.
