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  1. #1
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    Feb 2018
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    Default Sexting Pictures Between an Adult and a Minor

    My question involves criminal law for the state of: California

    Hey guys,
    I am a single mother in California with a 21 year old son who is a college freshman. I know that he sounds way to old to be a freshman but he had severe health problems as a kid and was thus held back for a few years. I am panicking a little bit right now due to something that has come up and would really appreciate a little advice.

    My son is a very good kid and our communication has been great. Recently, I was drifting through his phone when I was borrowing it for a phone call and found a picture of his genitals that he sent to his girlfriend in this chatting app. My son's girlfriend is 17 and is a senior at his previous high school. I know the age gap is a little big, but my son's isn't some weirdo. It is simply that he has to hang with younger kids simply because those are the kids in his grade! Luckily, I saw the picture soon enough and I had a chat with him. According to my son, he and his girlfriend wanted to take their relationship to the next "level". I immediately questioned how many of these types of pictures had been exchanged and went through the entire chat in the app and on his camera and text messages (he doesn't have social media or snapchat). It seems that she sent him one nude picture and he sent one in return. I immediately arranged a meeting with my son, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's parents and we had a talk on the dangers of sexting and we made sure to delete all the pictures and delete the apps off of their phones which they were communicating on in addition to taking away their smartphones for 6 months and replacing it with a flip phone with which you can only call and not text.

    Now, it has been 2 months since that incident and I did a lot of research to ensure that we cleaned the situation appropriately which I know we did. However, recently I was reading about this case about a man in Indiana who was convicted of sending one inappropriate nude selfie to someone who was 16 years old in 2014 over Skype chat. However, even though he ceased contact with the girl he was arrested Two years later out of the blue. This has made me extremely worried and panicked as a mother and it seems like an anomaly but it raises some concerns. I know the chat app my son used was not encrypted which is worrying. However, according to the app the chats are deleted off of the app's server each week and neither my son or his girlfriend saved those pictures on their phones and the pictures were deleted forever when we deleted the chat on the app. I am just worried that just like the man in Indiana law enforcement will come after my son as well. I am just worried that something bad is going to happen to my son for a very minor mistake that we dealt with in the appropriate manner. I know you guys may call me crazy after reading this, but as a mother I just want to help my son, because he has already been through way too much stuff in his life. Please let me know what you think!

    Here is a link to the article about the arrest of that man in Indiana by the way: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/...inor/80178406/

  2. #2
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    Mar 2013
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    No, you're not crazy.

    Here's section 288.2 of the CA Penal describing the crime your son may be accused of committing if word of it ever got to the authorities:

    http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/fa...ctionNum=288.2.

    Here's a bunch of resources about the crime:

    https://duckduckgo.com/?q=california...de&t=hf&ia=web

    I don't know what the statute of limitations is, maybe several years that he will have to sweat it out. There are several discussions of potential defenses so there is no need to discuss them here.

    You were wise to teach the kids the dangers of sexting.

    Now there is one more critically important lesson they have to learn:

    NEVER TALK TO THE POLICE.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    Thanks for the advice!

    The thing is the only evidence of anything wrong were those two pictures and both were not saved to the phone. They were simply in the app and we deleted those chat rooms and according to the app that chat has been wiped off of their servers. They only chatted on the app for one hour total. I am not worried at all about the girl or her family reporting anything. I am just worried that law enforcement possibly snooped on the private chat somehow and saved the chat like they did to that man in Indiana. I don't know why law enforcement would commit resources for something so minor when there are so many crazy things going on. Do you think its possible they snooped on the chat? Also, referring to the case in Indiana that I posted the link to in my first post, don't you think it was kind of random the FBI and police came after him after two years? There seems to be a lot more prevalent issues that need to be paid attention to regarding sex offenses.

    Sorry again for another question. I'm guessing the main reason my son should be worried is the pictures right? There were one to two explicit texts that were sent too about what they would do to each other. Should he be worried about that too. Again this happened back in December.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    Quote Quoting mbrando
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    Thanks for the advice!

    The thing is the only evidence of anything wrong were those two pictures and both were not saved to the phone. They were simply in the app and we deleted those chat rooms and according to the app that chat has been wiped off of their servers. They only chatted on the app for one hour total. I am not worried at all about the girl or her family reporting anything. I am just worried that law enforcement possibly snooped on the private chat somehow and saved the chat like they did to that man in Indiana. I don't know why law enforcement would commit resources for something so minor when there are so many crazy things going on. Do you think its possible they snooped on the chat? Also, referring to the case in Indiana that I posted the link to in my first post, don't you think it was kind of random the FBI and police came after him after two years? There seems to be a lot more prevalent issues that need to be paid attention to regarding sex offenses.
    Servers aren't wiped. They're still there just waiting. It's also possible for images to be saved via screenshot. Your son will have to sweat...as will you.

    As a parent to a 17yo daughter I can tell you that we are a fickle, fickle lot.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    Quote Quoting mbrando
    View Post

    The thing is the only evidence of anything wrong were those two pictures and both were not saved to the phone. They were simply in the app and we deleted those chat rooms and according to the app that chat has been wiped off of their servers. They only chatted on the app for one hour total. I am not worried at all about the girl or her family reporting anything.
    Then you are underestimated the fury of a woman scorned. When your son finds adult women that are attracted to him and he dumps the child, things could get quite messy and the photo can somehow turn up. No way to predict.

    Quote Quoting mbrando
    View Post
    I am just worried that law enforcement possibly snooped on the private chat somehow and saved the chat like they did to that man in Indiana.
    Anything is possible.

    Quote Quoting mbrando
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    I don't know why law enforcement would commit resources for something so minor when there are so many crazy things going on.
    Nothing minor about an adult male victimizing a child. I know, that's not what your son is doing but that's how society sees it and that's why there are laws against it.

    Quote Quoting mbrando
    View Post
    Do you think its possible they snooped on the chat? Also, referring to the case in Indiana that I posted the link to in my first post, don't you think it was kind of random the FBI and police came after him after two years? There seems to be a lot more prevalent issues that need to be paid attention to regarding sex offenses.
    Anything's possible.

    Quote Quoting mbrando
    View Post
    Sorry again for another question. I'm guessing the main reason my son should be worried is the pictures right? There were one to two explicit texts that were sent too about what they would do to each other. Should he be worried about that too. Again this happened back in December.
    Texts could be an issue as well as the photo.

    The odds are that nothing will ever come of it.

    But the best thing your son can do to protect himself is invoke his right to an attorney if the police come to talk to him. The minute he says anything is the minute he convicts himself.

    Watch the videos. It's alarming what the police can do to get people to talk.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    The risk of prosecution in this sort of situation is pretty low. Your son is not a teacher, like the subject of that article you linked, and thus not in a position of trust over teens or young children. But while the risk is low the risk is still there. All you and he can do is wait and see if anything ever does come of it. Until it does, don’t worry over it. This is something that is out of your control and there is no use worrying about something you cannot control.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    Hey guys
    Thanks for all the advice. I guess the way something will happen to my son is if something like what happened in the article unfortunately occurs. I think the only good thing is that the app is not very well known. One question, I went on the app to do a little investigation myself and that stupid thing is an absolute breeding ground for predators which is disgusting!!!! There are so many underaged people on the app. I attempted to contact the app to see if they could do anything about it but the app doesn't even have a responsive app support. How come the authorities aren't aware of this!!! The app has been here for 7 years but I haven't seen a single case against it yet.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    You are free to report it to the proper authorities.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Advice About Son

    Bear in mind that the ToS of applications such as what you're describing put the onus on the user to police their content. In other words, the user provides the content the app provides the platform for the content.

    There are hundreds of chat apps that provide similar platforms as you describe. Generally users must self verify their age as the app developer isn't going to shoulder the cost of 3rd party verification and users won't either. I wish I could say that it's common knowledge among adults to not trust these sites when it comes to personal info, sexting with strangers, etc but it's not and it's worse with kids.

    So, what's the end result? you're son is responsible for his online behavior and not the service provider. This is true everywhere else in life and is true online.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Sexting Pictures Between an Adult and a Minor

    He doesn't have to hang out with younger people because they are in the same year at college. He could hang out with upperclassmen.

    You better hope he doesn't do this again. You can't monitor hi 24/7.

    Nothing is ever deleted forever once it's uploaded...

    I think he needs to just avoid underage girls. It's not worth the risk and it's not worth jail or prison or sex offender registries.

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