Revealing Images Sent Via Cellphones Prompt District Attorney to Offer Seminars but Threaten Felony Charges
By DIONNE SEARCEY
Tunkhannock, Pa.
The group of anxious parents crowded around District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. as he sat behind a table in a courtroom here and presented them with an ultimatum.
Photos of their semi-nude or scantily clad teenage daughters were stacked before him. Mr. Skumanick said the images had been discovered on cellphones confiscated at the local high school. They could either enlist their kids in an education program or have the teens face felony charges of child pornography. "We could have just arrested them but we didn't," said Mr. Skumanick in an interview.
The tactics of District Attorney George Skumanick Jr., left, in the county courthouse, prompted the family of 15-year-old Marissa Miller to sue him.
The practice of teens taking naked photos of themselves and sending them to friends via cellphones, called "sexting," has alarmed parents, school officials and prosecutors nationwide, who fear the photos could end up on the Internet or in the hands of sexual predators. In a handful of cases, authorities have resorted to what one parent here called "the nuclear weapon of sex charges" -- child pornography.
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District Attorney George Skumanick Jr. Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania is in deep doo-doo after bullying and threatening the parents of a bunch of girls between the ages of 10 and 16 about their sexting problems. He threatened to imprison an eleven year old for something that isn't even a crime (wait'll you hear this) and is being sued by the ACLU on behalf of three furious families.
Skumanick sat down with parents one day and showed them the lurid images and said that either the girls enter into a treatment program for their sexual problems or be forced to endure a trial to juvie hall, a trial, and possible jail time.
Another confiscated phone had photos of a 17-year-old girl that she described in an interview as "semi-nude pictures, underwear and stuff like that." The girl, who took the photos herself, was debating whether to send them to her boyfriend when a teacher took the phone.
Mr. Skumanick thought he had enough evidence to charge them as juveniles on pornography violations -- not just for sending the photos, but for appearing in them, too.
At a school assembly during the crisis, one boy was ejected and told "this isn't a debate" for questioning whether the DA was ruining people's lives by carrying on his investigation. Soon after, letters began appearing in mailboxes around Wyoming County, telling parents their children were being suspected of involvement with child porn and ordering the adults to appear at a courthouse meeting, where the phones were laid out and anyone could see the porn pics. An 11-year-old in a bathing suit was told she could be charged for "posing provocatively."
Another was told the years-old photo of her in a bra at an all-girls slumber party could get her in deep trouble-- and that she could be raped by an old man who might across the pic. One 17-year-old attended the meeting herself and cried out,"I think the worst punishment is knowing that all you old guys saw me naked. I just think you guys are all just perverts."
And not long after that, the ACLU filed suit, effectively blocking charges against the children Skumbag is so aggressively pursuing.
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Look what Being Connected to the Famous will get your son in America...
Mark Lunsfords son will spend the next 10 days in jail, but will not be registered as a sex offender after being sentenced for having unlawful sexual contact with a 14-year-old ... Watch the Video.
The question is NOT is is ok in some cases for an 18 year old to have sex with a 14 year old. This has been going on since time began.
The Question is Why, Mark Lunsford, who went all over the nation speaking out about Sex Offender laws.. getting tough laws put into place, can get his son off on this charge of Child Molestation, when HE is the one who helped put these laws into place.
Again, the connected go free, and the rest go to prison and on the Sex Offender Registry to be shamed and punished for life. I would love to hear your thoughts on this video.
In another case, a 17 year old boy had sex with a 13 year old girl He has Lifetime Registration as a Child Predator... even though the girl Lied and said she was 16! OMG!
Mark Lunsford, The Father of This Boy, Was caught with Child Pornography on his computer when the police and FBI did a search of his home when his daughter Jessica disappeared.
The investigators found Child Pornography on Mark Lunsford's Computer...
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This story is a shame. A Tragedy of epic proportions. Americans should not stand for this, and it is happening everywhere in this country.
Oakland youth in sex diary case found dead, committed suicide after finding out he would be placed on the sex offender registry for life.
BY MARSHA LOW FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Justin Fawcett, whose name was among 22 penned in a 14-year-old girl's sex diary, was found dead in his bedroom Friday.
The Oakland County Medical Examiner's Office has yet to determine the cause of death, but David and Gayle Fawcett said their son died of a drug overdose.
Fawcett, 20, learned recently that his name would appear on the state's sex-offender list. His parents said they believe learning that he would live as a marked man came as a shock, and he faltered.
In May 2002, at age 18, Fawcett was one of four young men charged with statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old Andover High School student.
The girl's diary later revealed she had been sneaking out of her parents' Bloomfield Township home in the middle of the night to have oral and anal sex with 22 boys and men.
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I will never forget that day in June when I heard Judge Banales say, “You are hereby sentenced to 60 years in the Texas Department of Corrections”. My legs felt like spaghetti, my hands went cold. I had no moisture in my mouth. I was numb all over. I wanted to throw up. I could hear my mother’s horrific cries in the background. I turned to see her and I saw my father holding her and my grandmother tightly. He was so scared, I could tell. There were other ladies that were also crying. They felt for my mom, and possibly for me. The judge told my dad if he didn’t quiet my mother, he would have her arrested. My mother had a look of fury in her eyes when they met with mine. I knew right there and then that her love and commitment as a mother would induce a fight for justice. The bailiff was so nice to me. He kept asking me if I needed some water. I couldn’t talk. All I could hear was my mother’s cry, over and over. I couldn’t even hug her goodbye.
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A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.
The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.
"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"
The pastor's wife answered yes. She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.
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Hello I mean you neither anger nor harm in what I am about to ask you or say. However people seem to have such a closed mind and must be unaware of how this Registry effects people. I do not condone anyone who rapes or molest little boys and girls. I fight and speak up for the men and woman's life's that groups like your destroy and to mention their families lives.
Well I have come to the realization that the registry list is nothing but a modern day Schindler's list. It violates the accused person's constitutional rights every day. How? Well it’s simple, re-punishing someone for a crime that they have already been punished for and singling out one crime from the next. Oh yeah, and to put the icing on the cake even certain people that have committed sex crimes are singled out from the list; the military.
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