Sexting Scandal Rocks NY, Colo. High Schools

Investigators in both Colorado and New York are sorting through multiple complaints of sexting in local high schools. 

At Canon City High School in southern Colorado, officials have suspended an unknown number of students over the exchange of hundreds of explicit photos of students, some as young as eighth grade.  The investigation started on Monday after several people contacted school officials.

In Kings Park, New York, on Long Island, the Kings Park Central School District has suspended dozens of students this week for allegedly texting or viewing sexually explicit videos of another student. 

Andrew Fenton's son was suspended and he's struggling to understand what happened. 

"It's impossible to believe that your son could get into trouble because somebody forwarded a video to his phone that he has no control over receiving it," he said.

Authorities in Colorado say teens swapped nude photos of each other like trading cards.  They then hid them in smartphone apps designed to look like regular calculators.

Why do kids use "ghost apps" to hide material on their cell phones and how can parents spot them? CBN Digital Download Producer Caleb Kinchlow shows us how they work and how to spot them. Click below to see the interview.

The current sexting investigation has caught students by surprise.  Many say sexting was a common activity and that few realized it was a felony on par with child pornography. 

"You don't actually think about it until it actually comes up," one student explained. "We're young, we're stupid, we're going to do things like that."

Greg Brauchler is district attorney for the 18th Judicial District.

"So much of the time, technology outpaces policy and I think that's what we're seeing here," he said.

Colorado prosecutors say they'll use common sense in deciding what charges students should face, and Colorado lawmakers are considering turning sexting charges into misdemeanors. 

Starting this month in Arapahoe County, teens who get in trouble over sexting will have to attend an all-day Saturday class with their parents. 

A 2012 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association  found that more than half of all teens have been asked to send a nude picture of themselves and one in four teens have done so.