Crime & Safety

Teen Sexting by West Springfield Students Led to Legal Troubles

Activity termed by teens as "humorous" and "a prank" landed them in juvenile court Thursday.

Type "sexting" into Google and dozens of stories pop up about teens across the country caught swapping racy messages, nude photos and videos on their smart phones. Merriam-Webster's dictionary notes that the word was first used in 2007. Some stories blare headlines of the legal trouble that teens can get into when caught sexting.

The most recent case involves the three teenage boys from West Springfield High School charged with possession and distribution of child pornography. On Thursday, two of the boys accepted plea bargain deals and pleaded no contest to unlawful filming. The third boy, who is quoted by ABC 7 as describing the videos as a “prank,” will be sentenced on June 12. He was convicted of two counts of unlawful filming but found not guilty on child porn charges and a third count of unlawful filming.

According to the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, “sexting” is described as the practice of transferring sexually explicit images electronically, often via a cellphone. Sexting has been an escalating trend in Virginia, resulting in felony charges for students in schools in Fairfax County and across the state.

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Two males, an 18-year-old and 15-year-old, in Spotsylvania were arrested in 2009 for soliciting and sharing nude pictures from several girls younger than themselves in.

Back in 2011, Fairfax County police looked into a sexting case at Robert E. Lee High School in Alexandria where a 15-year-old girl allegedly sent nude pictures of herself to her 15-year-old boyfriend. Both attended Lee, but FCPS told Patch the offenses did not occur on school grounds. The pictures were reportedly shared with other students.

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Even more recently, a female student at Paul VI Catholic High School in Fairfax allegedly left the school after sending inappropriate photos of herself to boys in the school, according to NBC 4. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Arlington told NBC that the story, which was reported on the website Jezebel, "does not accurately reflect the actual event.”

Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Ray Morrogh told the Washington Post that prosecutors struggle with how to deal with sexting cases and balancing the consequences of a "sexted" image or video becoming public with following the law and pursuing a felony charge against a teen.

“We try to resolve these cases wherever possible without going to the courts,” Morrogh is quoted as saying in the Post. “At the juvenile level, the goal is to rehabilitate the child.”

Under the criminal Code of Virginia, sections 18.2-374.1 and 18.2-374. 1:1, producing, storing or sharing lewd or explicit pictures of a minor is a felony in Virginia. Those codes apply to students who have inappropriate pictures or content on their cellphones, produce such content using their cellphone, and share them with other students through their cellphones.

In 2009, the Fairfax County Police Department began an education campaign, which included public community forums to alert parents and community members about the rising trend in sexting in Fairfax County. A survey, conducted that same year by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, estimated 15 percent of teens between 12 and 17 who own a cellphone have received sexually suggestive, nude or nearly nude images of someone they know via text messaging.

Around 4 percent of teens surveyed said they’ve sent such messages, the report states.

Traci Sontheimer, School Resource Officer at Holmes Middle School in Alexandria, stressed the importance of parental involvement when it comes to monitoring children’s electronic devices for evidence of sexting and cyberbullying, speaking to Patch in 2010 for a story.

"We want parents to know that if this stuff is happening, please let us know so we can stop the activity and to be aware that these are the things kids are doing," said Sontheimer. "Pay attention to your child's electronic devices. Know how they work so that you know if this stuff is going on. You can help stop it before it gets so far out of hand."

Read more in Patch Local Voices: The Legal Concerns of Sexting

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the pleas entered by the teens in court. They pleaded no contest to unlawful filming. The did not plead guilty.


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