15yr old Arrested

[lnn7]

New York
My 15yr old daughter was arrested for sending inapropriate videos of herself to her 15yr old boyfriend via her cellphone to his internet email address. Is she going to need a lawyer?
I also need to know how to get a court order for her cellphone records because he was sending her inapropriate pictures of himself.

 

[Just Blue]

New York
My 15yr old daughter was arrested for sending inapropriate videos of herself to her 15yr old boyfriend via her cellphone to his internet email address. Is she going to need a lawyer?
I also need to know how to get a court order for her cellphone records because he was sending her inapropriate pictures of himself.

Ahhh Yes. She absolutely needs an attorney. Said attorney will subpoena the records needed.

 

[lnn7]

How bad are we looking at? The officer (happen to know, small town) said that he thought everything would be ok. We have a court date set for 8/11/09. She already gave a statement and confessed to it (they already had her information from her sending the video to his email address).

 

[Zigner]

How bad are we looking at? The officer (happen to know, small town) said that he thought everything would be ok. We have a court date set for 8/11/09. She already gave a statement and confessed to it (they already had her information from her sending the video to his email address).

With all due respect to the officer (I'm sure he's a fine officer), he's not an attorney.

 

[lnn7]

Thank you, we will seek counsel. As to the subpoena, can we get it ourselves? Reason I am asking: My husband feels that my daughter should not be the only one punished because he sent her photos of himself but she deleted them from her phone. So he wants to get her phone records (I can only acess dates and times and numbers, no actual information that was sent). I don't even know if Verizon can retrieve pictures/texts that have been deleted.

 

[Isis1]

Thank you, we will seek counsel. As to the subpoena, can we get it ourselves? Reason I am asking: My husband feels that my daughter should not be the only one punished because he sent her photos of himself but she deleted them from her phone. So he wants to get her phone records (I can only acess dates and times and numbers, no actual information that was sent). I don't even know if Verizon can retrieve pictures/texts that have been deleted.

in this instance, it's not wise to do it yourself.

 

[tranquility]

Probably not that big a deal unless getting convicted on a child pornography felony and being required to register as a sexual criminal for the rest of her life is a big deal.

This is in the news all the time now. You never know how things will turn out, but the above is a realistic possibility (even though I think it's silly). An attorney is the only reasonable response to this. Don't have daughter talk to anyone, including you, about this until she speaks with an attorney. It terrible she already gave a statement. When will people learn that the police are not your friends when they suspect you of a crime?

 

[lnn7]

I know, my husband was with her when the police came and I was outside. So I don't know what transpired before I came in. My husband was angry and told her she had better tell the truth and not lie and that was it, she spilled her guts.

 

[quincy]

The worst case is that your daughter and her boyfriend will be charged under state and federal child pornography laws. If convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography, they would have to register on sex offender lists and they would have felony records.

HOWEVER, the officer you spoke with is correct. Things will probably be okay.

Prosecutors have discretion and states are after adult child pornographers, not kids who send nude photos of themselves to others. State laws that address child pornography never anticipated kids sending nude photos of themselves to others, and prosecutors are reluctant to charge kids under these laws.

Prosecutors in most states that have faced the problem of kids sending these photos to others have found other means to "punish" the children (and their parents) besides formally charging them under the pornography laws. These punishments have included probation, community service hours, educational classes.

Many kids have been suspended from the schools they attended. Many of the kids in small communities, where stories spread fast, have had problems finding jobs. And, of course, they are humiliated - especially when these "private" photos make their way online (which many do).

You should have an attorney for your daughter, because the possible repercussions she faces with her nude-photo sending are severe. The reality is, however, that the prosecutor probably will not pursue charges against either her or her boyfriend.

 

[lnn7]

I appreciate all the advice. As I said, I will be seeking counsel for her. I knew in my gut that I should have last night but like I said, she just spilled her guts. (Once she's caught in a lie or doing something bad, she can't keep her mouth shut. Good for us, bad for her sometimes). Anyway, I would like to just let it go with her and deal with her punishment. I do not feel the need to go after the boy as my husband does. We are dealing with teenagers and their hormones! Yes, what they did was wrong, but kids do stupid things. I remember my teen years and they weren't perfect by any means and my husband was worse than me.
If anyone else should come upon this thread, please continue to post if you have something to share.

 

[cbg]

I'll add this;

I don't know how old you are, but if you have a 15 year old daughter I'll guess that you're about ten years younger than I am (my kids are in their early 20's). When my husband and I were growing up, and when you and your husband were growing up, technology was different. You took pictures with a camera, and the pictures were easily destroyed and once gone, were gone forever. Even the negative could be damaged beyond repair. So we didn't have to worry about nude pictures of ourselves lasting on into time, or being displayed anyone outside of those close to home.

These days, however, kids don't think about the fact that pictures can find their way onto the Internet and displayed to millions of people, and that it's next to impossible to destroy them completely once that happens. The very fact that you're here investigating how to get the other pictures back shows that you're aware of the longevity of these things. I'm sure all she was thinking of was how much fun it was to send these pictures to her boyfriend, and didn't think about how embarrassing it would be if the pictures got out to others. But they can.

So these days I don't think it's enough to dismiss it as, we all do stupid things. Yes, we all do, but the stupid things kids do in 2009 can have consequences that didn't exist a generation ago. And I'm not talking solely about nude pictures.

 

[lnn7]

Yes, I am well aware of the computer age. I've been online since it came out. If you have legal advise, then by all means, type away. But if you just wanted to come and comment or judge me or my family, then dont bother.

 

[cbg]

That was not in any way intended to be a judgement of you or anyone else and I'm at a loss to see how you took it that way. I guess some people will always find insults even when they weren't intended. Forgive me for trying to help. You can bet I won't make that mistake again where you're concerned.

You're on your own, sweetheart.

 

[lnn7]

You are telling me stuff I already know as if I didn't. I do feel that it was a stupid hormonal teenager act. It wasn't done to hurt anyone or offend anyone. I waited until 3 months ago to allow her to even have a cell phone with the parental controls no less but that did not prevent anything. She does not have internet access unless it is supervised. And while under my roof, her and her boyfriend were not permitted to be alone. We have done everything we are suppose to do as parents to protect and control our children. But at some point you have to allow them to live and make mistakes. Granted this is not one I wanted her to have to learn. I find it sad that the boy's mother did not feel she could come to me about this instead of turning over to the police (she intercepted the email before the son got it). They have been together for 5 months and we have socialized with the family. Unfortunately my daughter was smart enough to erase the pictures he sent of himself but stupid enough to send stuff to him. So I'm sorry if you feel that I snapped at you for your comments.

 

[You Are Guilty]

I believe Verizon Wireless only maintains text message content for a rolling 30-day period and outside of that, you just get the date/time/number called information.

So to have any chance of getting your hands on the phone records, you'll want to get that attorney as quickly as you can to stay within the 30 day window.