Teens often send sex videos via cellphone: Pamela Rogers case shows such behavior widespread
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The fake Rogers video is graphic in nature and appears a blatant imitation of clip she is accused of making. Such a phony video isn?t criminal, however, provided it wasn?t sent from an adult to a minor.
District Attorney Dale Potter says he is confident additional Rogers videos were made, although investigators have only been able to uncover the one clip of Rogers dancing in lingerie which has aired on Nashville news stations.
?We?ve heard from enough people that we know more videos are out there,? said Potter. ?We thought the phony video was interesting because it?s so much like the real one.?
Of greater significance is the ease in which sexually based videos are being sent from cellphone to cellphone. The way the Rogers video spread throughout the county ? and the high school ? gives parents reason to panic.
?Unfortunately cellphone technology has developed to the point where kids can get those short video clips online or make them themselves,? said Potter. ?There would be a lot of parents extremely upset to realize what their kids have done as far as sending images on a cellphone.?
?Teens today are probably a lot less inhibited than their parents were,? continued Potter, who indicated students don?t seem reluctant to send naked pictures of themselves. ?It?s a lot more tempting for what girls can do today.?
It?s a felony for an adult to send a minor any pornographic material or receive such material from a minor. However, it?s no crime for minors to send sex images to each other by cellphone.
It?s for that reason, and the fact cellphones can be used to take pictures of tests and are a general distraction, school board member Larry Judkins wants them to stay out of schools during school hours. There is talk from some school board members about relaxing policy to allow cellphones in school during school hours.
?They don?t need to be in lockers, they don?t need to be in school at any time during school hours,? said Judkins. ?If anything the cellphone policy might need to be made tougher because it?s not stopping kids from bringing them.?
The policy that cellphones are not permitted on school property during school hours is a loosely enforced rule. Students regularly have cellphones on school property during this time with no repercussions.
Regardless of when and where the images are being transmitted, Potter says the Rogers case has brought to light how prevalent this behavior has become.
?Cellphones are a lot more problems than people realize,? he said.
The videos allegedly made by Rogers are pertinent because prosecutors claim she sent them to a teen-age boy she went to jail for having sex with. The one video prosecutors do have is expected to be enough to violate Rogers? probation and force her to spend more time behind bars. She is currently at Warren County Jail awaiting a July 12 hearing.