A 16-year-old Virginia girl is facing child pornography charges, after police say she posted photos of herself naked on Twitter.
Authorities received an anonymous tip describing the photos, which were posted to Twitter around Jan. 30. The girl, a student in James City County, admitted to posting “multiple” lewd photos of herself to the social networking website last week, according to police.
“One of our school resource officers made contact with her and her mother,” Stephanie Williams-Ortery, a spokeswoman for the James City County Police Department told The Huffington Post.
“The young lady acknowledged that she had posted the pictures of herself [and] the mother acknowledged that the photos were of her daughter,” Williams-Ortery said.
According to police, the girl, who has not been named, also admitted to sending photos directly to male acquaintances she was hoping to impress. She has been charged as a juvenile with felony “possession, reproduction, distribution, solicitation and facilitation of child pornography,” Williams-Ortery said.
Not everyone in the community agrees with how police are handling the case.
“I don’t think she should be charged with child pornography, because she is a child herself,” parent Emily Altman told WAVY.com.
“That is distributing child pornography?” said parent Dometre Mobley. “She is a child.”
However, because the girl is charged as a juvenile Virginia law would not require her to register as a sex offender, if she is found guilty, so long as she fulfills her obligations to the court.
