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Minors Posing as Adults Online and Sex Offender Charges

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Blonde1283

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? FL

So, I have sexual fetishes and I joined a site for adults just for people with certain interests like myself. This site even hosts meet ups at hotels like conferences so people can mix and mingle.

The site does not check ID but the rules say you must be 18 to be a member and if you post a photo (explicit is allowed) you also check a box that says you swear it is a photo of you. It also lists ages.

I have never seen anyone look underage in photos nor have I seen anyone state on their profile they are under 18. I specifically state I want to speak with men who are middle aged.

My concern is what if an minor went there, used stolen photos, presented themselves as an adult and an adult sent them a photo that is explicit. Would the adult still be considered a sex offended or would the fact thr minor lied and rhe adult had no way of knowing negate that?

Serious question. Since we know adults have posed as minors to get people to meet them and the fact it was a lie did not matter. This also scares me a bit.
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
It depends on just which "offense" you're talking about. "She lied about her age" isn't a defense against statutory rape. It might be for the enticement/travel for purpose charges.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
I don't plan on meeting anyone. I am also a female so I only talk to men.

I just chat and occasionally we share a photo.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
You can "talk" to anybody you want. It is trying to have sex with them or exchanging sexual depictions of them that is the problem.
The relative sexes of the participants do not matter much in this day and age.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
Basically I am asking, if someone under 18 says they are 30 and has photos of a clearly adult male on their profile, and has acquired enough photos of this person to share, and sends me a message and we chat and they send me a photo and I send something back....clearly believing they are a grown man...can I get in trouble?

I realize teens are not eloquent in their writing nor would know much about fetishes and I could probably use my gut reaction to recognize a fake...it still freaks me out.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
Not if this teen sent me photos of themselves. If this teen sent me photos of a grown man they stole off of some site and are posing as this man, and sent me those photos of that man thinking since I think they are an adult man I might or would send them a photo of my breast.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
if someone under 18 says they are 30 and has photos of a clearly adult male on their profile, and has acquired enough photos of this person to share, and sends me a message and we chat and they send me a photo and I send something back....clearly believing they are a grown man...can I get in trouble?


Yes.

Is that clear enough for you?
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
Some teens are very eloquent. I think you're trying to fool yourself.


Yes, you can still get in trouble. Someone lying about their age is not a defense. Even if you meet and they have a fake license that is still not a defense.

If I was you I wouldn't be sending any naked pictures of myself or engaging in explicit emails/texting with ANYONE until you meet them in person.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
Yes. I am thinking the same. I have with people after chatting on camera. But they were clearly over 18 and I became friends with them.

It is not worth the risk. I did look up my state statutes and it says about distribution of obscene material to a minor that a person has to know they are a minor or have reason to suspect they are a minor.

But, who knows the loopholes or how it would be handled if a minor posed as an adult by stealing photos of a stranger who is an adult to get photos from an adult. Which is why I chatted on camera first. But I started thinking about this scenero and wondered what the actual law would look at.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
The laws tend to center more around:
Meeting or setting up a meeting
Receiving photos or vidoes of a minor
Distributing photos or videos of a minor
And of course trafficking cases

As for the law on explicit chat or sending them a photo of yourself it said you had to know or had reason to suspect they were a minor. A minor using fake photos pretending to be an adult male would lead a person to suspect it is an adult especially when they met on a site for adults who's TOS states you must be 18 to use. I think. But way too iffy.

I would like to know if anyone has ever known of a case like this.
 

quincy

Senior Member
... I would like to know if anyone has ever known of a case like this.
There are cases - but the only one that you need to concern yourself with is your own, should you send naked photos of yourself to a minor and charges result.

If that happens, you will want a criminal defense attorney and this attorney will search the appropriate case law to help you in your defense.

What you can do to prevent a charge against you is to keep naked photos of yourself to yourself until you are in a relationship where you know the age of your partner.
 

Blonde1283

Junior Member
Thank you to everyone for not being judgemental.

I have not sent any photos of myself to a minor and I will dilligently be more aware of how minors do lie on adult sites.

Although, I am an adult and I like to be open with other adults, outside of a relationship, and to find people who fot with me typically normal dating sites or friends of friends will not even help me find a mate that I am compatible with.

It would be helpful if when sites are 18 and over and a minor lies to another person and says they are 20 or 40 and shows fake photos that the minor get in trouble. I read a story where a man thought he was meeting a 20 year old man on grindr and he was a 14 year old boy! And the man faces serious charges and he really is not a pedophile. Because adults have the right to have sexual relations with other consenting adults.

And I totally understand and support police officers who pose as teens and set up meetings with men looking for teens. But these are adults looking for adults who have been victims of deception.

Anyway...laws are not perfect. But I have definitely decided to give up the site and try to look elsewhere.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Teens do not have the ability to comprehend the problems that can result from such exchanges. This is biological fact resulting from the fact that the part of the brain that is capable of making such decisions is not fully developed until the individual is in their twenties. Look it up for yourself if you don't believe me. That is why the onus is on the adult.

It is a matter of pure common sense that you do not send naked pictures of yourself to people you have never met. Why so many people overlook that simple fact astonishes me. Blaming a minor for what seems, to him or her, to be a harmless exchange, because their pre-frontal cortex is not yet engaged, for ones own refusal to think with their northern brain instead of their southern one, is a pointless exercise.
 

quincy

Senior Member
... But I have definitely decided to give up the site and try to look elsewhere.
Trying to meet people online is always going to be risky. Many online sites like the type you visit are frequented by liars and law enforcement officers (generally for far different reasons :)).

While meeting someone in person is no guarantee that the person is honest and honorable, it is harder to lie in person-to-person contacts (or, at any rate, easier to uncover any lies).

Good luck.
 

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