Student
‘sexting’
addressed
By CARL E. HARTDEGEN
Staff Writer
WESTFIELD – Two Westfield High School pupils have been disciplined after they were found to have “sexted” nude images of themselves to each other’s cell phones.
School resource officer James Summers reports that he was advised by school administrators that school officials were investigating reports that a boy and a girl had transmitted explicit photos of themselves via their phones.
Summers reports that the phones were confiscated and he arranged a meeting with parents of the children, school representatives and Det. Susan Figy, the Westfield police detective who most often deals with sexual offenses and juvenile offenders.
At the meeting, the parents of the children gave Figy permission to examine the phones in question and each was found to have nude photos stored in them.
The girl’s phone had a photo of the boy involved and the boy’s phone had not only a naked photo of the girl but also contained an explicit photo of another girl.
The boy said that he had met the second girl on a social networking website and had not met her in person, nor did he know her name.
The images were removed from the phones before they were returned to the children’s parents. Figy said that school officials will take administrative sanctions against the students and their parents will administer the discipline they deem to be appropriate for their children.
Figy said in a recent interview that parental oversight is vital for children and said she encourages “parents to frequently go through their children’s phones to see what’s in there.” She also said parents should regularly check their children’s social networking accounts.
She said that the practice of school children sending sexually explicit photos of themselves to friends and classmates has been an issue “for years” with children in both middle and high schools and said that the children often do not know that they are committing a felony crime.
She pointed out that both dissemination and possession of child pornography are felonies but children usually do not realize that it is a crime to take or distribute pictures of their own naked bodies.
Under Chapter 272 of the Massachusetts General Laws, penalties for possession or distribution of material which “describes or represents nudity, sexual conduct or sexual excitement … is patently contrary to prevailing standards of adults … and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors” are severe including imprisonment for as much as five years and fines between $1,000 and $10,000.
Figy said that, in the current case, a criminal investigation is underway but no charges have been filed.
She said that a phone number associated with the second girl whose nude photo was found on the boy’s phone has been identified and officers are attempting to contact her parents to advise them of the issue.
Carl E. Hartdegen can be reached at [email protected]
