Teen Sues District for Seizing Nude Cell Pics

Suit claims principal performed unreasonable search and seizure, and violated First Ammendment

A former high school student is suing a Pennsylvania school district after her principal confiscated her cell phone, found nude images and gave it to prosecutors.

The federal suit, filed May 20 on behalf of the teenager, says Tunkhannock Area High School Principal Gregory Ellsworth illegally searched the 17-year-old's phone in January 2009.

"I was absolutely horrified and humiliated to learn that school officials, men in the DA's office and police had seen naked pictures of me," said the now-19-year-old in a statement issued by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit on her behalf, reports the Inquirer.

"Those pictures were extremely private and not meant for anyone else's eyes. What they did is the equivalent of spying on me through my bedroom window," she said.

This is not the district’s first time around with “sexting” suits.

The Tunkhannock Area School District was the subject of the first criminal "sexting" case to reach a federal appeals court. Three female students, who were classmates of the 19-year-old, sued last year after the Wyoming County District Attorney considered nude “sext” photos they took of themselves worthy of prosecution for child pornography.

The court ruled in March that a prosecutor could not charge a teenage girl who appeared in a similar photo.

The latest suit says a teacher at the school confiscated the cell phone of the teen—identified by the A.C.L.U. as N.N.—after she was seen talking on the phone on school grounds, which is prohibited, reports the Inquirer.

The suit claims that principal Gregory Ellsworth searched the phone, where he found nude photos of the student. Ellsworth suspended the girl for three days and turned the phone over to a prosecutor, who allegedly threatened to charge the girl unless she took a class on sexual violence.

N.N. took the class to avoid prosecution and when she finally got her cell phone back, she discovered all of the photos on her phone, including family pictures, had been deleted, reports the Inquirer.

The suit seeks damages against Ellsworth, the district, prosecutors and a detective.
 

Contact Us