Teen with history of sex offences faces child porn charges

A teenage boy is facing for charges for allegedly using a nude photo of a girl to extort her into sending him more sexually explicit pictures.

The 17-year-old from the rural municipality of Rhineland, who is on probation for three prior sex offences, was arrested Friday and charged with possessing and making child pornography, as well as trying to lure a 17-year-old female into making child pornography.

The teenage girl took a photo of her naked chest and sent it to the boy on Feb. 6 after he asked her to do so, police said. The boy then tried to extort more nude photos from the girl.

She reached out to her school guidance counsellor and police then started investigating, Altona police Chief Perry Batchelor said.

Batchelor said cases of youth sending naked photos to each other is concerning, but not entirely unusual.

"It's almost nonchalantly dealt with by youth in this sexting, texting world that we're in," he said

"It is a very large concern for police in general that naked pictures are being transmitted at all. They have a very long-term, long-lasting effect," said Batchelor. "They're there forever."

Batchelor said the victim did the right thing in reaching out to a counsellor.

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The male is being detained in the Manitoba Youth Centre until his day in court.

As of January 2016, Manitoba legislation allows victims of nonconsensual sharing of sexual or nude images to sue perpetrators in civil court, and gives police the power to request suspects remove or delete images they've posted online or have in their possession. 

Meanwhile, federal anti-cyberbullying legislation made it a crime to distribute sexual images without consent and when there was a reasonable expectation of privacy.

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A 2001 Supreme Court ruling allows two consenting youths to record their own sexual activity for "personal use," but only so long as the material stays between them.