Wash. teens in court for sexting case

TUMWATER, Wash., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Three teenagers embarrassed a girl by distributing a nude photo of her to dozens of other students in Thurston County, Wash., the victim's mother says.

The mother of the victim, whose identity was not released, said in juvenile court Wednesday the embarrassing incident began when her daughter's ex-boyfriend sent the photo to two classmates, KOMO-TV, Seattle, reported.

"She was embarrassed, (and) hurt," the victims' mother said. "I was extremely angry that these kids seemed to not care how it affected her."

Also appearing in court Wednesday was the girl's former 14-year-old boyfriend and the two classmates, both 13.

Prosecutor Rick Peters said he chose to charge the three teen suspects with telephone harassment rather than possession of pornography. Nonetheless, he maintains the suspects' actions were intended to impact the victim's life.

"This wasn't just, 'I've got a picture. Let me show you what I've got,'" Peters said. "This was done specifically for the purpose of causing maximum damage to this girl."

KOMO said if the teens meet specific requirements, including apologizing to their alleged victim, the charges will be dropped.