6 suspended for posing in nude photos

Officials are investigating how the photos of the students could have been developed without the authorities being notified.

By MIKE BRASSFIELD

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

Six teenagers accused of posing naked for photographs have been suspended from Boca Ciega High School for 10 days, and police are investigating how the students got the photos developed at a local pharmacy.

The students, all 16, were arrested at school Wednesday on felony charges. One of them called the Times on Thursday to complain that police overreacted and that criminal charges were unnecessary.

Pinellas County sheriff's officials insist the felony charges fit the crime.

"Some people might say it's just kids being kids," said sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha. But she noted that a 14-year-old girl was photographed, and the photos were brought to school.

Sheriff's officials say the set of 20 photos shows four boys and three girls naked or partly undressed, posing by themselves, in pairs or in groups, fondling or kissing each others' body parts. Genitalia are not visible in the photos.

"There is no overt frontal nudity," Pasha said. "There are, however, suggestive poses, some including the 14-year-old girl."

The 14-year-old was not arrested because police view her as a crime victim. Sheriff's officials mistakenly reported Wednesday that the 14-year-old was a boy.

Three of the 16-year-olds were charged with sexual performance by a child, a third-degree felony. The other three were charged with a more serious second-degree felony, lewd and lascivious exhibition, because they posed with or photographed the 14-year-old, officers said.

Those criminal charges typically are filed against adults who are exploiting minors. But it makes no difference that everyone involved in this incident was underage, Pasha said.

State statutes regarding those charges refer only to "a person" committing those crimes. School resource officers at Boca Ciega consulted with the State Attorney's Office about what charges were appropriate before they arrested the teens.

The six arrested students were taken to the Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center and were released Wednesday night. Their cases will be heard in Pinellas County Juvenile Court.

Their names are being withheld because of their ages.

After the 10-day suspensions are served, Boca Ciega High's principal could suggest transferring the students to other schools, said Pinellas schools spokesman Ron Stone.

"She could do that if she thinks it may be a disruptive influence when they come back," Stone said. "There could be fallout on campus because of the notoriety."

The five sophomores and one junior live in Redington Beach, Madeira Beach and St. Petersburg. Police say the students skipped school Monday, went to one of their homes and took the photos.

A school resource officer found out about the photos and confiscated them from a girl who had them at school.

The photos were processed at a one-hour photo center in an Eckerd Drugs on Madeira Beach, deputies said. No one alerted the authorities, so deputies are investigating whether one of the students may have known an employee at the store.

"Eckerd has been very good about calling us when they see something suspicious," Pasha said. "They and Walgreens have always been very helpful to us."

The Eckerd Corp. says that when a customer brings in film showing what may be an illegal act, the company's policy is to call the police. Company officials would not comment about this particular case, and the store manager could not be reached.

"In the event that it becomes a police matter, the photos are turned over to the authorities," said Eckerd spokeswoman Tami Alderman.

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