Tag: Virginia

RICHMOND — Should teenagers who exchange sexually explicit messages and photos face the same punishment as adults charged with producing and distributing child pornography? The Virginia State Crime Commission is revisiting the teen sexting issue and may again consider legislation that would lessen penalties — primarily intended for pornographers — in consensual cases involving suspects who are minors. Full Article  

More than 100 Virginia teenagers are under investigation for sharing child pornography, even if they were simply sexting with their friends. Teens sexting, or sending nude photos to a boyfriend or girlfriend, could end up facing felony charges.  Apps like Snapchat, Wickr, and Oovoo allow users to take a photo or video, send it, then the image self destructs on the other end in a matter of seconds. Full Article

DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. — A Dinwiddie mother got a nasty shock when she went through her daughter’s cell phone and tablet. The pictures she discovered were so disturbing that she turned the girl in to sheriff’s deputies. The parents discovered their 13-year-old daughter, who is about to enter the eighth-grade, had been sending and receiving naked pictures of other teens using her tablet. … The parents said that they called in the sheriff’s office to protect their daughter even though she could face criminal charges. Full Article

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — A Virginia teenager is fighting efforts by police who want to take photos of him in a sexually aroused state to try to prove a sexting case against him. Prosecutors in Prince William County told a judge they need photos of the 17-year-old’s erect penis to compare against photos he is accused of sending to his 15-year-old girlfriend at the time. The teen has been charged in juvenile court with possessing and manufacturing child pornography related to the images of himself he’s accused of creating. Full Article

LOUISA, VA (WWBT) – The American Civil Liberties Union is speaking out, saying it’s concerned with how police are handling a massive child porn investigation in Central Virginia. NBC12 was the first to tell you that authorities are looking into more than one thousand inappropriate pictures and videos posted online involving teens in Louisa, Hanover and Goochland. The ACLU goes as far to say that minors have the constitutional right to take nude photos of themselves and send it to most whomever they chose. While, according to investigators, they’re trying to save these teens from committing crimes…

A sprawling central Virginian “sexting” ring was busted up by authorities after pictures of naked 14- and 15-year-olds sprang up on Instagram, cops say. The disturbing investigation revealed more than 1,000 pictures, some videos and more than 100 involved teens through six different counties who may not realize sharing such photos of underage kids can be a felony, police told the Central Virginian. Out of those thousand images, there are some of them that are not sexually explicit, but are what we would call inappropriate or provocative — in their…