The modern version of sharing your dad’s Playboys with a buddy has landed a St. Johns County boy in some very hot water.
Last month, the 14-year-old St. Johns County high school student, whom The Recorder will not name because he is a minor, was arrested and charged with distributing pornography to a minor — a third degree felony — after he tried to sell what officials call a "pornographic DVD" to a 15-year-old student for $1.
The incident occurred Feb. 5 at St. Johns Technical High School during a seventh period class that was being observed by substitute teacher Karla Barkley. According a Sheriff’s Office report, Barkley witnessed several students passing a DVD back and forth and then saw one student push the DVD under a locked storage closet door.
The 14-year-old then took the DVD and went to throw it into the garbage. Barkley confiscated it and discovered it contained pornographic material.
She separated the students and called for the school’s dean of discipline, Christopher Wetjen. The boy then began to clean out his book bag. Wetjen did not make it to the classroom before the students were dismissed for the day, but after they were gone Barkley said she discovered more pornographic DVD’s inside the 14-year-old’s student folder, which was located in the area where the boy had cleaned out his bag.
On Feb. 8, the school’s resource officer, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Deputy Richard Pittman, questioned a 15-year-old student involved in the incident. That boy told the deputy that the 14-year-old had given him a CD and requested $1 for it. The student said he initially thought it contained music, but when the 14-year-old showed him nude photos on his cell phone, the 15-year-old said he began to suspect the DVD contained pornography. He told the deputy that he slid the DVD under the locked storage room door because he was afraid of getting caught with porn.
According to the report, Wetjen interviewed all the students involved in the incident and learned that the 14-year-old had offered to sell pornographic DVD’s to another student, saying he had about 30 copies.
After interviewing the other students, Wetjen and Pittman asked the 14-year-old’s mother to bring the boy to school for a parent conference. At the conference, Pittman informed them the boy was being charged with distributing pornographic material to a minor.
According the Sheriff’s Office’s report, the 14-year-old’s mother became so upset that Pittman advised her to calm down or she would be charged with disruption or disorderly conduct. The mother excused herself from the building and called attorney Kurt Tiefke, who advised her that her son should not talk to anyone about the incident.
Pittman and Wetjen then confirmed that there was pornography on the DVD. The boy was arrested and transported to the St. Johns County Jail.
Tiefke said that the boy has had past legal troubles, and thinks the boy’s reputation is what lead to the charges.
"I’ve never had a case like this," said Tiefke. "The charge seems kind of odd to me."
St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Chuck Mulligan defended charges, comparing them to charging a minor with buying alcohol for another minor.
"Although he is a juvenile, he can’t distribute pornography to another juvenile," said Mulligan, who added that it is up to the State Attorney’s office how to proceed after the arrest.
Prosecutor Diana Christenson with State Attorney R.J. Larizza’s Office said last week that she recommended the charges go forward, saying the 14-year-old’s criminal history played a role in the decision.
The statute under which the boy is charged was introduced in the early 1990s and co-sponsered by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, who was then serving in the Florida Legislature. It isn’t clear if the legislature meant for the law, which was designed to protect minors, to also apply to minors. Brown did not respond to several phone messages left with someone in her Washington D.C. office.
FS 847.0133 prohibits "a person" from providing obscene materials — which under the law includes books, magazines and newspapers as well as videos — to a minor. Christensen said that the definition of a person specifically includes a child.
John Tanner, former State Attorney for the Seventh District said while he was in office his prosecutors had received cases of juveniles distributing pornography to other juveniles, but that most of the cases involved kids taking pictures of themselves and sending them to another kid.
"We did not charge any minors with a heavy duty charge like that," said Tanner about the felony charge. "Charges like that will affect a minor for the rest of their life. In most cases, you can’t even get that kind of record expunged."
Tiefke said he will not hesitate taking the case to trial, but that he feels confident the current charge will be reduced.
shanegriffis@pontevedrarecorder.com
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