May 26, 2015
The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office announced Tuesday that 19 juveniles and one adult have been charged in a "sexting" investigation focused on two South Jersey schools.
The investigation centers around Lower Cape May Regional High School and the Richard M. Teitelman Middle School. According to a press release, authorities seized and combed through 27 cell phones after a female student alerted school officials of naked photographs of one of her friends being texted to male students.
Authorities discovered several photographs of nude and partially nude female students that had been sent between male students through texting and social media.
The juveniles and one adult each face an Invasion of Privacy charge, which could mean three to five years in state prison for the adult offender and two years in a training school for juvenile offenders if convicted.
Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor thanked the schools for aiding in the investigation. A spokesperson for the office said the prevalence of "sexting" in area schools was "concerning" in a press release, noting that students needed to understand the impacts of their actions.
