Alleged Nude Photo Sharing Leaves Dozens Facing Possible Felonies — but Their Ages Might Surprise You

It's certainly not the publicity that Adams High School wants.

Thirty students from the Rochester, Michigan, school face possible felonies over alleged nude photo sharing, a sheriff told the Detroit Free Press.

And all of them are under 16, Captain Mike Johnson of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department told the paper.

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School officials learned about the alleged sexting after a victim came forward. One student at nearby Van Hoosen Middle School faces similar charges, Johnson said.

Shannon Smith — an attorney who specializes in sex crime cases and represents one of the Rochester students — told the Free Press that things unraveled at Adams after "some of the boys were collecting photos."

"They were asking girls to text them nude photos. The girls were cooperating and then the boys were trading the pictures — giving them to other people," she told the paper. "There were a lot of girls that were sending photos and it just got out of control."

The Rochester students could face charges related to the creation, solicitation, distribution or possession of sexually explicit material, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office told the Free Press. If they were charged as adults, the students could face four to 20 years in jail each, the paper added.

But even though the likelihood is that they'll be charged as minors, they charges still would be felonies, prosecutors told the Free Press — although the punishment would be handled differently than if they were charged as adults.

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