Virginia: Police Want To Photograph Boy's Penis As Evidence In 'Selfie' "Sexting" Porn Case: *UPDATED

A teenager in Virginia is facing four months in jail and a lifetime on a sex offender's list for texting videos of his erect penis to his girlfriend.

The 17-year-old from the Washington suburb of Manassas is accused by police of "manufacturing and distributing child pornography" - even if it is so-called 'selfie' porn.

www.spunout.ie & www.teenline.ie & www.letsomeoneknow.ie 

The youth, due to appear 1 August in youth court, had "repeatedly" been told to stop sending "pornographic videos" to the 15-year-old girl, said Manassas City Police in a statement.

The "sexting" case took a surreal twist when police obtained a warrant to photograph the boy's penis to prove that it was the same one that appeared in the text videos.

On Thursday, as publicity about the case grew in the Washington area, they said they would not serve the warrant, which would have involved a drug-induced erection at a local hospital.

Under Virginia law, anyone in possession of obscene photos of a juvenile is technically in possession of child pornography, even if it is a picture of themselves, Foster said.

"It's a very far-reaching law," she said.

In an editorial this week, the Washington Post newspaper, citing an academic study, said the youth's behaviour "puts him in the company of nearly 30% of his peers."
LINK:
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/local/wp/2014/07/09/in-sexting-case-manassas-city-police-want-to-photograph-teen-in-sexually-explicit-manner-lawyers-say/
*In response to The Post’s story Wednesday about a felony sexting case in Prince William County, the Manassas City police released this statement shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday night:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Juvenile Sexting Case

On January 23, 2014 Manassas City Police was contacted by a parent of a 15 YOA female juvenile who was sent pornographic videos by a 17 YOA male suspect after repeatedly being told to stop.  Upon further investigating the incident charges of manufacturing and distributing child pornography were brought against the 17 YOA male suspect on January 28, 2014 after consultation with the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office.  The matter was set for trial on June 4th 2014 where charges were nolle prosqui by a Prince William County Assistant Commonwealth Attorney.

The circumstances on the decision to dismiss charges and bring forward new charges cannot be released at this time due to this incident being an active investigation and involving juveniles.  New charges of manufacturing and distributing child pornography have been brought forward and a court date is pending.

It is not the policy of the Manassas City Police or the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to authorize invasive search procedures of suspects in cases of this nature and no such procedures have been conducted in this case.  Beyond that, neither the Police Department nor the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office discusses evidentiary matters prior to court hearings.

###

Adrienne E. Helms
Crime Prevention Specialist &
Public Information Officer
Manassas City Police Department
9518 Fairview Ave
Manassas, VA 20110