"Once a photograph is texted to someone or posted, your control over that photo is relinquished and really it's out there for anybody's who is using it," said Capt. Kim Koster with the Wyoming Police Dept., which became involved in the investigation after determining it's where the photo appeared to have been taken.
"Really it's about parents talking to their kids, teachers talking to their students but especially parents communicate with your children, this is a prime example of a worst case scenario."
The photo, showing two Grandville teens engaged in an apparent sex act, also shows four other teens who appear to be watching the act. It is is unclear where exactly the photo was taken and police have yet to confirm the exact location.
The post, which appeared on social media this past weekend, quickly went viral and sparked hundreds of thousands of responses and re-posts of the photo. Police warn those who might've shared the photo could face possible charges for distributing child pornography because the participants are underage.
“In a case where it involves a minor there could be potential criminal charges for someone who produces or transmits that information to other people," Koster said.
"You have to be very careful if you receive an inappropriate text message or photograph like that what you do with it is extremely important, you cannot distribute that further."
Grandville schools' superintendent Ron Caniff would not comment on the incident, only confirming it did not happen on school grounds or at a school-sponsored activity.
Caniff said once the district was made aware of the situation this weekend they immediately reported it to police.
"The concern right now is the age of the people involve, consent is also an issue at times as well so those are some things in any investigation like this one we'd have to determine," Koster said.
In West Michigan there have been several other incidents recently involving teens sharing or distributing sexually explicit material.
In May, the superintendent of Marshall Schools confirmed an investigation into a possible 'sexting' situation in which students were allegedly using their cellphones to send texts and images.
And in November 2013, the Rockford Public Schools superintendent said a similar situation was happening in the district's high school. It sparked a criminal investigation into whether the images were sent during the school day.
yup
Stupid kids a shame kids destroy there life’s
Cheryl
Children do as the parents do,we have people on the sexual offenders list for pissing in public…what are the police going to do about this,charges better be brought againt her and the boy,and her home needs to be investigated!!!!
Justa2ndThought
I disagree. I’m a parent of seven (6girls and 1boy). Each have their own personalities and rebellions. Sometimes kids do stupid stuff simply because they’re just following the ‘crowd’. My eldest is the only one that seems to be a “follower”. She did some of the most ridiculous stuff that often lead to the “you weren’t raised this way” speech followed by disciplinary actions (she is 16 right now). According to you, if she happened to have been recorded while doing her stupid stuff (having sex), you’d feel that she and the boy she had sex with should be charged, as well as my home being “investigated”. All this without knowing “who” posted the video (obviously not the two engaged in the act) or the ages of those involved. I guess it’s also safe to say that no parent should ever have sex, either because maybe they may be overheard or possibly walked in on (by your logic of kids doing what the parents do). Let’s not rule out that of course, kids NEVER hear about, experiment with, or see sex elsewhere. Or perhaps you’re referring to the posting of the recording because ALL parents MUST always know what’s going on on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, while posting recordings of themselves doing lude activity. Sound ridiculous, yet? I’ll go out in a limb and say that I think you’re reacting to the ‘underage’ emphasis. That simply means that they’re under 18. The word teens means 13 & up. Since there’s a high school responding, then the age moves up to 14 & up. Should they be having sex? Absolutely not. Do teenagers have sex? Been doing that for years. The only difference here is that there are idiots recording it and stupid enough and even bigger idiots allowing themselves to be recorded. Whether it’s a dare, rebellion, or just stupidity of the youth being displayed, they’re kids! Disciplining them would obviously be the job of the parent. Charge them for having teen sex? Absurd. Charge those who posted the video? Absolutely. I think the humiliation is enough to cause them to “think before they act”.
Victoria
As a teenager, I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without checking in with my dad. Couldn’t sleep over or go to parties until he spoke to my friend’s parents. But we all can’t have good parents like mine.
Anon
Just adding this here, both the male and the female in the photo are juniors.
GrammarNazi
It’s “their” you inbred mongoloid
ofeuropeandescent
Are you using mongoloid in a derogatory way you possibly insensitive Homo sapien?
horizon including
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