Teen Charged With Sex Crimes For Possessing Photos of Himself

By Lina Bryce

A  North Carolina 17-year-old caught sexting is facing charges of sexually exploiting a minor that could land him in jail for up to 10 years, since the law considers Cormega Copening an adult. The plot twist is that the minor he is allegedly charged with exploiting turns out to be himself. That’s correct. The high schooler football player who is old enough to face felony charges is apparently not old enough to keep a nude picture of himself on his own phone.

After exchanging private nude photos with his girlfriend–Brianna Denson—with whom he is legally allowed to have sex with–Copening found himself in trouble with the law. The photos, which were privately shared only between the two, were discovered by local authorities during a search of questionable legality of Copening’s phone. The reason for the search remains unclear. According to fayobserver.com, there was no record of a search warrant being issued for his phone.

This case has layers of wrongdoings, beginning with the North Carolina statute which considers 16-year-olds to be adults in criminal cases (New York is the only other state that currently holds the same law). This means that he can be tried as an adult for exploiting a minor, even if the minor is himself.

Both he and his girlfriend are charged with sexual exploitation, with Copening facing two counts of sexual exploitation and three counts of third-degree exploitation. Denson received a lesser charge, resulting in 12 months probation after pleading guilty.

There are a few details that make this case particularly noteworthy and offensive, Ricochet‘s Tom Meyer, Ed. wrote:

• There is no indication that the photographs were disseminated beyond the couple until the male student’s phone was seized as part of a separate investigation involving misdemeanor property damage.

• The two were charged with “exploitation of a minor,” despite each being a minor at the time they made the photographs. More bizarrely yet, most of the charges against the teens were for having pictures of themselves on their own phones; i.e., each was charged for photographing and/or storing images of his or her own nether regions.

• The laws they are accused of violating are not merely identical to those pertaining to genuine child pornographers, but are in, in fact, the very same laws that make child pornography illegal. If you don’t believe me, see § 14-190.16 through § 14-190.17A of North Carolina’s Offenses Against Public Morality and Decency.

• The charging officer described the boy as cooperative and recommended he be released to his family (I’ve yet to figure out why this recommendation was subsequently ignored).

But, wait! The plot thickens when Robby Soave of Reason asked Executive Editor Mike Adams of The Fayetteville Observer about his publication’s decision to release the names of the teens Adams explained that it is the company’s policy to publish the names of adults charged with felony crimes– in this case, the names of Copening and Denson. “I don’t think sexting was considered when this sexual exploitation law was put on the books,” Adams told him.

Soave responded pointedly, “But The Observer didn’t fully comprehend that Copening and Denson were also victims–and, by some bizarre quirk of the law, minors in a different sense–until after its original reporting on the issue had already been published”.

Nonetheless, this young man’s high school football career was destroyed and unforeseeable damage has been done as a result of, what is no doubt, humiliating.