SEXTING

2010 Ohio Prevention and

Education Conference
November 16, 2010
Julie A. Bruns
Assistant Montgomery County
Prosecuting Attorney
 Texting
• Teens are sending about 1,700 text
messages per month

• 46% of teens admitted to texting

while driving

AAA 2007 Report

 Texting
• Research shows most teenagers
sleep with their cell phones

• 1 in 6 teens communicate 10 or
more times through the night

AAA 2007 Report

 WHY Teens shouldn’t do it:
Can go from Cell Phone to
Internet in seconds!
• Can’t take it Back.
• Follow the child FOREVER.
• Humiliation, Embarrassment, Suicide
• It is a CRIME.
– Felony
– Confinement
– Designated a Sex Offender
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP…
 Example #1
• 16 year old girl
• 18 year old boyfriend
• Caught by janitor in school bathroom
“acting inappropriately”
• Janitor reports to school personnel that
boy coerced the girl
• Boy denies coercion and says “I have
texts and naked pictures of her on my
cellphone to prove it…want to see them?”
 Example #2
• Student arrives at school, gets out of car
in the parking lot and finds a cellphone
• In an attempt to return the phone to the
righful owner, the student looks at:
• 1) the contacts – with no success
• 2) the pictures – and finds a naked picture
of a girl that they recognize
• Girl turns the phone into school authorities
 Example #3
• School alerted to nude pictures of a
student at the school
• School personnel investigate by:
1) sending the picture to their own phone
2) sending the picture to the
superintendent
3) sending the picture to members of the
school board
 What is the Alternative to
Prosecution?

Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office

Juvenile Diversion Program

“Balancing the law and bad choices”

MCPO’s Sexting Diversion Program
• 6 months minimum supervision
• Mandatory relinquishment of cell phone
during supervision period
• Community Service
• Possible drug screens
• 4 hours of educational programming
including internet safety, legal
consequences, and age appropriate
sexual boundaries
AAA 2007 Report
Questions???

Julie A. Bruns
(937) 225-4253
brunsj@mcohio.org
www.mcpo.com