Area students charged in “sexting” investigation

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department is urging parents to monitor their children’s electronic communications after students at three Northeast Iowa schools were charged in separate incidents.
It’s important to know what your children are looking at and what kind of content they have on their phones and other devices,” said Sheriff Marty Fisher. “It’s also important to communicate with your children so that they understand the consequences of these actions and that this kind of behavior is against the law and they can be criminally charged for such actions.”
Over the last two weeks the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office has conducted three separate investigations involving students from North Fayette Valley High School, North Fayette Middle School and Starmont High School. The focus of the investigation was sexting between students. Law enforcement officials’ were notified of the incidents by parents and school officials.
At North Fayette Valley High School three students were charged: a 16-year-old male charged with Harassment, 3rd degree, for possession and forwarding inappropriate photographs of a minor; a 15-year-old female for possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia; and a 16-year-old for possession and delivery of the controlled substance marijuana, a class “D” felony, sexual exploitation of a minor, an aggravated misdemeanor, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
At the North Fayette Middle School a 13-year-old male was charged with invasion of privacy, a serious misdemeanor, for taking a photograph of a student in the restroom without their knowledge.
At Starmont High School the following were charged: A 15-year-old male was charged with invasion of privacy, for taking an inappropriate photograph of a student without their knowledge and harassment in the 3rd degree, simple misdemeanor; a 15-year-old male was charged with harassment in the 3rd degree; and a 15-year-old female for Invasion of privacy for taking an inappropriate photograph of a student without their knowledge and harassment in the 3rd degree.
Deputies are still continuing to investigate these incidents and are examining cell phones and more charges could be filed at a later date.