Prosecutors decline to file charges against Saline Middle School students in 'sexting' case
Authorities declined to prosecute a pair of Saline Middle School students who exchanged inappropriate text messages via cell phones toward the end of the school year.
Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Don Ray, who heads the office’s juvenile division, said Wednesday that neither 13-year-old student will be charged with any wrongdoing.
Saline police were called to the school on May 26 after a girl told school officials she sent a boy a nude picture of herself from her cell phone. She told authorities she and the boy texted frequently, and he asked her whether she ever sent nude photos of herself to others before.
She said she felt pressured to send him a photo and later did so, reports said. He asked for another photo, but she refused.
The girl said she came forward at the urging of friends who said they heard about the photo from other students, according to reports.
School officials questioned the boy and determined he showed the photo on his cell phone to two other boys. He said he deleted the image and gave school officials his phone to prove it. Police turned him over to his father, who indicated he wanted to speak with an attorney before further interviews, reports said.
Saline police did not request charges, but said they were obligated to forward the report to prosecutors for review for possible charges of computer sex crimes.
Ray would not answer questions about specifics of the case and said charges could be denied for a number of reasons, depending on what evidence officers obtained. Police reports confirmed the images were deleted from the boy’s phone before many others saw them, and the photos weren't distributed to other phones or computers.
Police were called back to the school on June 7 when a 14-year-old girl told school officials a friend sent a boy a topless photo of herself by cell phone. At least four students saw the photo on the 14-year-old boy’s cell phone.
Saline Detective Don Lupi said the phones were confiscated, and the investigation is ongoing. He said the incidents are not related.
Art Aisner is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.
Comments
Fat Bill
Sat, Jul 10, 2010 : 8:59 p.m.
I second RodJ!. Seriously, we elect prosecutors; they have to have this sort of discretion. Without such discretion, we wouldn't need them, simply clerks to mail out the warrants "because the cops said so..." This is a fine example of checks and balances at work.
Rod Johnson
Sat, Jul 10, 2010 : 10:22 a.m.
I want to express my appreciation to cinnabar7071 for the pez analogy.
stunhsif
Sat, Jul 10, 2010 : 9:59 a.m.
Sanity prevails but a lot of taxpayer money got wasted. This never should have gone to the police. The school of course felt it might get sued so they were just trying to cover their rear ends but back in our day this would have been handled with the parents and the school internally and no other folks would have ever known about it. As one other poster noted, kids of any age have access to nasty filthy porn at any time of the day on the internet and no one does anything about that.
MI-expatriate
Sat, Jul 10, 2010 : 12:34 a.m.
This IS a parental discipline issue, and yes, children this age and older are naturally sexually curious and should not be shamed. But, the internet is a wondrous and terrible thing. The "privacy" of Facebook has killed job success for plenty of young people, even if they have cleaned up their sites. Others still tag them in photos, etc. Personal information will be available, with or without their consent, no matter how long ago the posting occurred. Copy, paste, send. Unending.
kilroy
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 9:27 p.m.
The police got it wrong. Fortunately the prosecutors got it right. So what else is new?
mw
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 7:23 p.m.
Ashamed of the body????? Do you want nude pictures of your children posted all over the web for every child predator to enjoy? Children throughout the country have far, FAR greater risk having their lives ruined by insane 'kiddie porn' prosecutions than by having stray topless photo of themselves floating around on the intertubes. There are many, many Hollywood stars whose naked bodies have been seen (and possibly even 'enjoyed'!) by countless millions of people. This has ruined their lives...how exactly?
TIGERS68
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 5:17 p.m.
Are you freaking kidding me.... Prosecuting kids for sending a nude photo when anyone can go buy a magazine at any store full of naked women. Why this minor little incident ever got considered for prosecution is beyond me. I got news for you, this country is not as free as you're led to believe. In the last ten years I've seen people's lives ruined by ridiculous laws put in place by the goverment. Let's piss away more tax payer money on ridiculous and frivolous nickel & dime court cases, while in the meantime we're letting violent criminals roam the streets. Don't make sense to me!!
snapshot
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 4:33 p.m.
Good decision by authorities regarding a bad decision by children. No need to brand a child with being a criminal sexual offender for life over something like this.
Macabre Sunset
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 3:49 p.m.
Kids are naturally curious. They find ways to express that curiosity that can make us uncomfortable. But they will be just fine if we stop telling them they've ruined their lives. Laws protect kids from adults who seek to exploit them sexually. There are laws against rape. That seems like enough legal protection. Let them explore and stop trying to make them feel bad or ruined or guilty for having hormones.
debling
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 12:53 p.m.
One huge problem with the legal system is that too much discretionary power is held by Prosecutors and Police. If a crime was committed (as per the State Statutes), the Prosecutor should be obligated to prosecute to fulfill his duty to serve the people. It should not be up to the Prosecutor to proceed if he or she "feels like it". This is how discrimination, racial profiling and political favoritism happens. If these kids indeed did commit a crime they should go to trial.
M.
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 12:46 p.m.
genious - the article states that neither of the teens will be in trouble. I agree with most here; it's very sad and scary when teens in a similar situation are prosecuted and forced to be on the sex offender registry for a minimum of 10 years for simply being sexually curious teens. Teens have always been curious about sex; it's just the methods that are changing with technology and it scares the crap out of adults.
earworm
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 11:22 a.m.
I think this was handled very well. No need for charges but the message that this is not appropriate behahavior has been sent.
cinnabar7071
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 10:37 a.m.
Its funny how people see things differently. Ignatz sees society as teaching kids that the human body is evil and something of which to be ashamed. Whereas I see society trying to teach children that the body is to be treasured and not handed out like pez.
seldon
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 10:29 a.m.
This is the right approach. It isn't a criminal matter, it's a case where parental discipline is needed.
ironyinthesky2
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 10:18 a.m.
I hope the parents take this seriously, and I hope their children (and they are children, not young adults) have their phones taken away for a long time.
whyohwhy
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 10:15 a.m.
Ashamed of the body????? Do you want nude pictures of your children posted all over the web for every child predator to enjoy?
ffej440
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 9:48 a.m.
Not sure I agree with the other comments. If some kid thinks it would be a joke to send these type of pics to an adult, that adult would be in serios trouble. Nude pictures of minors floating around is not good no matter who is looking. I hope at least a firm message has been sent out that this will not be tolerated.
Ignatz
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 9:28 a.m.
Great! I'm so glad that society still teaches kids that the human body is evil and something of which to be ashamed.
Chuck
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 8:41 a.m.
Hey teacher, leave them kids alone..
SMAIVE
Fri, Jul 9, 2010 : 8:36 a.m.
Finally, some common sense prevails