'Sexting' Leads To Child Porn Charges Against Teens

January 17, 2009 12:33 p.m. EST

Miami, FL (AHN) - Three male students in Greensburg, Pa. are facing sexual child abuse charges for receiving nude photos via text messages of three female schoolmates, and the girls who sent the pictures of themselves are facing child pornography charges.

Police say the girls are 14 or 15 and the boys are 16 or 17. None of the students was identified because they are juveniles.

The picture that prompted the arrests was a self portrait of one of the girls, which was discovered when a teacher confiscated one of the boys' activated cell phones. It is against school policy to have an activated cell phone during class, WPXI TV in Greensburg reported.

One of the boys' mothers said she is outraged, and that her son didn't know the girls. She said she is dismayed that her son is being charged with a crime when he didn't take the picture.

Police say they pushed the child pornography charges to send a strong message to any teenager thinking of sending such pictures over the phone or Internet, a practice that has become known as "sexting."