The Porter County Juvenile Probation Department (JPD) is investigating the case of two Benjamin Franklin middle-schoolers who Valparaiso Police said texted each other nude photographs of themselves.

According to police, on Thursday, Jan. 21, a Ben Franklin teacher confiscated a cell phone belonging to a 13-year-old girl after it went off in class. When the girl asked whether she could first delete something from the phone before the teacher turned it over to administration, and the teacher refused, the girl “began to cry and advised the teacher that a sixth-grade boy had sent her a dirty picture and that she was going to get into trouble,” police said.

On Friday, Jan. 22, police said, with an officer’s assistance, Ben Franklin administrators conducted an investigation which determined the following: on Sunday, Jan. 17, the girl and a 12-year-old boy were texting one other; at some point the boy texted her a photo of his exposed genitals and asked the girl to do the same; the girl replied with a photo of her nude upper body; the girl, for her part, subsequently showed the photo of the boy to a seventh-grader at another school.

Both the children’s cell phones were seized by the VPD, their parents contacted, and consent obtained to search the cell phones for further evidence, police said. The children themselves were released to the custody of their parents.

Porter County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Gensel told the Chesterton Tribune today that JPD is currently investigating the case and interviewing the parties involved. It’s possible, he said, that JPD may request the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office to file a delinquency charge against the two children of creating and disseminating material harmful to minors, a Class D felony when filed against an adult.

It’s also possible, Gensel said, that JPD may decide not to pursue a delinquency charge and opt instead for an “informal adjustment” like counseling or a “hold-open” in which no further action is taken pending the children’s good behavior going forward.

“We take this very seriously,” Gensel said. “Kids don’t have an appreciation of the gravity of this thing. They don’t appreciate the fact that it’s illegal. And they don’t appreciate the fact that it can follow them for years or even the rest of their lives. In a worst-case scenario, a person can end up on the sex-offender registry.”

Posted 1/28/2010