Waukesha parents warned about illicit photos on students' cell phones

Jacqui Seibe & Erin Richards:

Police and school officials are urging parents to check for naked photos on their children's cell phones after a 14-year-old girl learned that her nude photo ended up in the hands of hundreds of area high school students.

The Waukesha West High School [Map] student sent the photo to her boyfriend, but when the couple broke up, he forwarded it to other students using his cell phone, Waukesha police Capt. Mark Stigler said Tuesday. Police have talked to the core group responsible and may recommend felony possession of child pornography charges, he said. Police have recovered computers belonging to the teens to investigate whether they also sent the photos over the Internet.

"We know it's a hard stance, but how else do we deal with this?" Stigler said. "Kids are being immature and doing foolish things."

An automated phone message from the Waukesha School District went to parents Monday and Tuesday asking them to talk to their children and check the phones for illicit photos.

Police want parents to delete any inappropriate photos because the magnitude of the potential proliferation of photos is too large to investigate, Stigler said.

Related: Textual Misconduct What to do about teens and their dumb naked photos of themselves.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at February 18, 2009 1:32 PM
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