An affluent suburb located just northwest of Chicago is considering pressing criminal charges against some middle school students after they were caught forwarding a sexually explicit image of a female student during school hours, according to a CLTV report on Tuesday.
Sources say that an eighth grade female student sent a sexually provocative image and text to an eighth grade boy before the image went viral and started circulating to a large number of middle schoolers at the Barrington Middle School. The act of exchanging nude or sexually explicit images or texts is often called “sexting.”
While the Barrington Police Department is investigating the incident, no one has been charged with a crime yet, however, police aren’t ruling out the possibility.
“This is a criminal investigation, and whatever the outcome of that may be, it will be a serious situation for those students involved, if they’re charged,” said district 220 spokesman Jeff Arnett.
Arnett goes on to say, “We understand this is not just a Barrington issue, but this is something that our whole nation is facing…”.
Arnett suggests parents may want to consider best practices and limit their children’s smart phone use as more and more kids have access to smartphones.
If charges are filed, it is not yet knows what kinds of charges will be handed down — bullying, harassment or distributing sexual explicit images of a minor.
Principal Craig Winkelman of Barrington Middle School feels some of the students involved were victims and says those victims are now receiving counseling.