Teens, parents invited to sexting forum

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (WISH) - Hamilton County Sheriff Doug Carter is hosting a public forum in Noblesville Wednesday night on the issue of sexting, which is the use of a camera phone to take nude pictures and send them off to others, like a boyfriend of girlfriend, via text message.

Sheriff Carter wants to warn teens and parents that, when the relationship breaks up, the pictures often get sent to others.

Kelly French, a mother of three teenagers, is delivering the message to her kids.

"You know, shared with them the negative consequences that can come out of sexting. It's not the one person you're sexting with, it can go to possibly hundreds and thousands of kids after that," said French.

Sheriff Carter hopes the forum will attract the same interest as earlier forums on teen driving because, he said, the images sometimes get to adults who put them on the Internet.

"It's as dangerous as anything I've dealt with in my whole law enforcement career, at least from a longevity standpoint," said Carter. "Once these images are out there, they are without end and they aren't gonna stop."

Noblesville detective Mike Widner is currently investigating a sexting case that he calls shocking.

"Someone in Illinois received the images of this person. So it's already across states lines so it spreads like wildfire," said Widner.

Police said the best defense is awareness. Parents need to know what their kids are doing.

But French worries that her kids might ignore the warnings.

"I really don't think they've tried, but probably are curious like all kids are just curious," she said.

The sheriff said many parents don't even know what their children's phones can do.

Transmitting child porn is a felony but teenagers typically don't get charged. That's because it's hard to prove they intentionally broke the law.

Two detectives will join Sheriff Carter at the forum. It starts at 7 p.m. at the 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville.