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Posted: Thursday, 24 December 2009 6:14AM
Police investigate Plainfield sexting case
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PLAINFIELD (STNG) -- A 16-year-old girl's decision to send a naked picture of herself to a male acquaintence's cell phone has exploded into the largest sexting case Plainfield police have ever encountered.
Police have been trying to sort out the case since Dec. 16, when they were contacted by school personnel for help.
Conversations with about nine teens involved led police to believe about half of the 1,300 students at Plainfield East High School have seen the photo, Sgt. Anthony Novak said.
"It was spreading like wildfire," he said.
Sexting is sending sexual messages or photos electronically, usually by cell phone. According to the Will County State's Attorney's office, a survey conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy found one in five teen-agers has admitted to sexting.
Sexting can devastate a child's reputation, and the photos can be posted online for more widespread dissemination, the state's attorney's office warned.
Novak was not sure when the girl sent the photo. But a churning rumor mill at Plainfield East led school staff to conduct their own investigation.
By law, school officials were authorized to confiscate and search the cell phones of several students, Novak said. Plainfield police used what the school officials found to get a warrant to take nine cell phones from sophomores and juniors at the school, Novak said.
Plainfield police gave the phones to Will County Sheriff's Department investigators, who may be able to extract deleted data from the phones, he said.
Depending on the situation, consequences for sexting offenders could range from a felony charge of distributing child pornography to a juvenile probation program, Novak said.
Plainfield police have handled sexting cases before, but nothing like this, Novak said.
"It seems to be becoming more and more prevalent, especially among kids of this age group," he said. "In the past it's been more boyfriend and girlfriend and only contained to them."
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Sun-Times Media Wire Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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