Chapin teen charged with sexual extortion under ‘Gavin’s Law’
Image: Lexington County Sheriff’s Department LOGO
Image: Lexington County Sheriff's Department LOGO
Lexington Co., SC (WOLO) —- The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department says they have charged a 14 year old boy from Chapin for his role in threatening to publicly release photos of one of his female classmates that made it appear as though she was nude.
According to an incident report based on interviews conducted by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department, someone took the face of the girl and digitally edited it onto other nude images making it look like the female classmate was not wearing any clothes in the pictures. The young man, who is not being identified due to the fact that he is a juvenile, has been release to the custody of his parents and will have to appear in the Lexington Family Court at a date that has not yet been released.
Sheriff’ Jay Koon released a statement surrounding the incident saying,
“We worked with school district officials to get to the bottom of this and determined a charge of sexual extortion against one student was warranted because he threatened to public share the images.”…“This issue is something we are taking very seriously,’ Koon said. “With today’s technology, it’s all too easy to prey on innocent people. Those who try this should know ‘Gavin’s Law’ is a tool for us to charge anyone who intimidates or blackmails another person with explicit images, whether real or fake.”
Lexington County deputies say this is the first time they have charged anyone under Gavin’s Law, which took effect last year in an effort to stop incidents of Sexual Extortion. The newly implemented law is named after 17 year old Gavin Guffey who authorities say was a victim of Sexual Extortion that caused him to commit suicide.
Koon is asking area teenagers and parents alike to report all suspicious or harmful content, activity or accounts on social media apps if they feel unsafe in anyway.
