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Chatting With A Minor Posing as Adult Online...Am I in trouble?

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BadTimesIndeed

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Virginia

Alright so I'm not sure if my question is in the right sub-forum, but I'm kinda freaking out a bit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. First the background story...

I was logged into MySpace Instant Messenger when I got an instant message from a girl from Rhode Island. I looked at her profile and it said she was a 21 year old (I am 20). After a little while I gave her my phone number and we chatted on the phone (dumb idea I know, but I was pretty bored at the time). Eventually we got off the phone and chatted some more online. At this point I don't quite remember what happened. I asked her if she had some "naughty pics" (another dumb idea but once again I was bored.) She sent me two that were blurry but showed top and bottom nudity. I respond with one picture of my genitals. Neither of them had a clear face in them.

This is where it gets interesting, for the next several days she starts calling me 6-7 times a day. I don't pick up and she leaves me voice mails saying she loves me. I'm obviously a little freaked out. So she sends me a message on MySpace asking why I'm not talking to her, and I basically ask her to stop contacting me. Other than this and the first day that's the only time I've ever talked to her.

So now a week or two passed and I get a voicemail from her mother saying that this person is a minor and she has a "learning disability". From the one conversation I had with her she was very normal, obviously when she called me several times a day I thought something may have been wrong. From the few pics on her MySpace, she looks like she could be 21 easily. Basically she doesn't look underage at all.

Her mother tells me that she called my local and state police and sent them the messages I sent and the picture that I sent her. Our conversation was at the worst semi-sexual; nothing graphic, maybe a couple innuendos, and of course the pictures. When I look back, it may have been a bluff on the mother's part to get me to stop talking to her, which I clearly did almost a month ago. I told her in an email that her profile said she was 21 and if I knew she wasn't I absolutely wouldn't have talked to her. Nevertheless she's infuriated and says that, paraphrasing here, "solicitation of pornography on the internet is a felony son". Is it? Even between two consenting adults? (Of course she isn't an adult, but as far as I knew she was.)

Summary of the situation: SHE contacted me. SHE posed as an adult. SHE willingly sent pictures.

Alright I have a few questions. Have I done anything illegal? Just because she poses as 21 but isn't, am I still in the wrong? If she did call the police, and probably leaving out the fact that her daughter posed as an adult, how likely are they to investigate this claim, track me down, and apprehend me?

I'm pretty scared about all this since it is a potentially reputation ruining situation, even if no charges are ultimately filed. I'm worried also because there seems to be a "no mercy" attitude to sexual offenders especially with children.

So that's it. Hopefully you made it this far :). Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
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mrgonzo

Member
If I were you I would go to her myspace page and do a print screen key to take a snapshot of it with the age 21, before she changes the age.

You should use your common sense though, because a lot of girls in high school put older ages on myspace, I mean you have to be 16 to get on there, so younger girls just lie.
 
If I were you I would go to her myspace page and do a print screen key to take a snapshot of it with the age 21, before she changes the age.

You should use your common sense though, because a lot of girls in high school put older ages on myspace, I mean you have to be 16 to get on there, so younger girls just lie.
That wont fly, point is a girl can tll you she is of legal age even though she is a minor, and if you have sex with her you have still broken the law
 

gawm

Senior Member
That wont fly, point is a girl can tll you she is of legal age even though she is a minor, and if you have sex with her you have still broken the law

Not quite, you have to know or have reasonable suspicion that a girl is under age to be guilty of sex with a minor.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Not quite, you have to know or have reasonable suspicion that a girl is under age to be guilty of sex with a minor.
In most states you don't have to have ANY knowledge the girl is under age ... if she IS under age and you have sex, you're guilty. Knowledge is not generally an element of the offense.

CHAT offenses will generally require knowledge - but not sex.

- Carl
 

gawm

Senior Member
In most states you don't have to have ANY knowledge the girl is under age ... if she IS under age and you have sex, you're guilty. Knowledge is not generally an element of the offense.
Seems so unfair. Here in AZ you have to have known or should have known(unless it is a prostitute)
CHAT offenses will generally require knowledge - but not sex.
-
He did send a picture, would that be a violation if his state is a guilty no matter what one?
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Seems so unfair. Here in AZ you have to have known or should have known(unless it is a prostitute)
I don't know ... the way I read it (13-405) the sexual act must be knowing, but I am not so sure the age part is. Note the placement of the the knowledge element in the structure of the sentence:

13-1405. Sexual conduct with a minor; classifications

A. A person commits sexual conduct with a minor by intentionally or knowingly engaging in sexual intercourse or oral sexual contact with any person who is under eighteen years of age.

B. Sexual conduct with a minor who is under fifteen years of age is a class 2 felony and is punishable pursuant to section 13-604.01. Sexual conduct with a minor who is at least fifteen years of age is a class 6 felony. Sexual conduct with a minor who is at least fifteen years of age is a class 2 felony if the person is the minor's parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, legal guardian or foster parent and the convicted person is not eligible for suspension of sentence, probation, pardon or release from confinement on any basis except as specifically authorized by section 31-233, subsection A or B until the sentence imposed has been served or commuted.​
He did send a picture, would that be a violation if his state is a guilty no matter what one?
A picture is not the same as a sexual act, so unless he knew or reasonably knew that the person at the other end was a minor, I can't see that he would be in trouble ... provided the content of the photo was legal (i.e. not kiddie porn).

- Carl
 

gawm

Senior Member
http://www.azleg.state.az.us/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/ars/13/01407.htm&Title=13&DocType=ARS

13-1407. Defenses


B. It is a defense to a prosecution pursuant to sections 13-1404 and 13-1405 in which the victim's lack of consent is based on incapacity to consent because the victim was fifteen, sixteen or seventeen years of age if at the time the defendant engaged in the conduct constituting the offense the defendant did not know and could not reasonably have known the age of the victim.

.

F. It is a defense to a prosecution pursuant to section 13-1405 if the victim is fifteen, sixteen or seventeen years of age, the defendant is under nineteen years of age or attending high school and is no more than twenty-four months older than the victim and the conduct is consensual.






©2007 Arizona State Legislature.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Okay. I guess i did not read far enough.

Though, I suspect that absent some other compelling proof a prosecutor can easily make a case that the defendant should have reasonably known. Otherwise we'd see a lot of ...

"You're 18, right?" <wink, nod, wink>



- Carl
 

gawm

Senior Member
Every year it gets harder and harder to tell. 16 & 17 year olds look and act more mature, and some of them get fake iIds go to bars and clubs. Lie a bout their age.
I'm not condoning sex with a minor, but in some cases I can see where a mistake can be made.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Every year it gets harder and harder to tell. 16 & 17 year olds look and act more mature, and some of them get fake iIds go to bars and clubs. Lie a bout their age.
I'm not condoning sex with a minor, but in some cases I can see where a mistake can be made.
That's where actually dating someone comes in. A couple of dates and a guy should know (lack of common references, school-related commentary, etc.) ... I contend that most guys have an idea that a girl is underage but choose to ignore it. Hence the reason I have little sympathy for a guy that charges in with his fly down after he says, "Hello."


- Carl
 

gawm

Senior Member
That's where actually dating someone comes in. A couple of dates and a guy should know (lack of common references, school-related commentary, etc.) ... I contend that most guys have an idea that a girl is underage but choose to ignore it. Hence the reason I have little sympathy for a guy that charges in with his fly down after he says, "Hello."


- Carl
Most guys probably do know if they were dating. But times are changing; I don't think a lot of the younger generation dates anymore. I have little sympathy for a girl who brings it on herself (as long as everything is consensual). Especially when if it's the guy who is the minor, the woman just gets a slap on the wrist instead of the prison time the guy gets when the girl is the minor.

If it is like the OP states, As far as I'm concerned, the mother is to blame. She should have been monitoring her daughters internet activities a little more closely if she has that big of a disability.
 
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mrgonzo

Member
Every year it gets harder and harder to tell. 16 & 17 year olds look and act more mature, and some of them get fake iIds go to bars and clubs. Lie a bout their age.
Well, 16 & 17 is the age of consent still in many states including Rhode Island.

I think the issue is that he was dumb enough to exchange nude pics with her - even if the age of consent is 16, thats not legal.
 

CdwJava

Senior Member
Most guys probably do know if they were dating. But times are changing; I don't think a lot of the younger generation dates anymore.
What? It's "Hi! Let's go do it in the parking lot!" ???? :confused:

The kids I know date ... well, it's something akin to when I was dating, but I guess I'm almost a dinosaur.

- Carl
 

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