Is it even revenge porn? Sounds like straight-up blackmail to me. The article says he “obtained” a 13-year old’s nudes then threatened to (and ultimately did) distribute them if she didn’t produce more.
~Max
There’s no such thing as “strictly voluntary”.
Imagine the Party Bosses say: “Here Mr. Primary Winner, we’ll slip you one meeellion pinkie finger to mouth dollars to declare you want to resign to spend more time with your family. Then Mr. Party Machine Hack here will smoothly slide into your place. Go ahead, play your role like a good boy.”
The whole and entire point of force majeure is it has to be a reason that a) can’t be readily faked, and b) can be widely seen and verified by the public at large to be factual.
The shame of this whole case, and countless before and into the future, is that parties aren’t real good at digging dirt on their own candidates pre-primary. It’s only post-primary that both the opposition, and the public at large, care enough to get serious about opening scoundrels’ closets to find the skeletons.
Distributing nude photos of a 13 year old is a very serious federal crime and one where the statute of limitations doesn’t apply.
Prosecutors vary in their treatment of this and often go easy on teen “sexting”. But this is worse as the victim was not willing and it sounds like these photos may still be circulating, which constitutes an ongoing crime against the victim.
And it doesn’t sound like he’s ever been charged …yet. I’m surprised this conversation has taken the “boys will be boys” and “kids do stupid things” track. But legally, this is closer to “I raped and killed a girl” than it is to “I was mean and may have crossed a line legally”.
This is a serious crime. If he had committed this crime a few years later, when he was 18 and if the girl had been a little younger, under 13 - this would be a DEATH PENALTY offense in Kansas.
No, I don’t think we should forgive his past. I don’t think he should be allowed to run for public office. I think he should be arrested and charged with extortion and distribution of child pornography at either the state or federal level. Typically federal sentences are tougher but that may not be the case considering Kansas’s tough child porn laws. Then he should serve the appropriate sentence, probably 10-20 years and be placed on the sex offender registry.
And I hope his admission starts an investigation and that he his arrested and charged and his victim gets the justice she deserves, as well as monetary restitution.
Some further reflections
I think that the massive under reaction to this guy’s self-confessed crimes is rooted in the social obsession with finding and punishing past sexual misconduct, no matter how minor.
Now, if a politician was under fire for making a suggestive comment to a teen, my response might be “It was wrong and he shouldn’t have done it, but he’s not as bad as the guy that blackmailed a teen for nude pictures”. But I’d be shouted down as soon as the words “he’s not as bad” left my mouth. I’d be “defending a predator” and “supporting misogyny”.
But it’s not black and white, there is a legitimate spectrum of bad behavior. And bad behavior should lead to a proportional response. We shouldn’t throw the full weight of our outrage at every offense. Because when you dump rapists and pornographers and extortionists into the same barrel as the oglers and ass-grabbers - you are giving the rapists and pornographers a big win. It allows them to minimize their behavior by equating it with lesser offenses. It allows them to point at the huge cohort of minor offenders and say “there are so many of us. society has become unreasonably judgmental.
It’s this mentality that lets someone like Aaron Coleman make his little public apology, confident that he won’t face any serious consequences. I really hope everyone sees the serious nature of his offenses and acts accordingly. Don’t equate him with Al Franken and keep your outrage proportional.
He tried to blackmail 13 year old girls to send him nudes using their child porn against them. I don’t care what age he was when he did it, that shit should be held against him until the day he dies. It should be the first line on his obituary.
Eh, taking bribes is already illegal, and so’s extortion. And sure there can be a sincere act of taking one for the team “for the greater good”, just that people being people generally don’t do that.
The penalty in Kansas is 55 months incarceration and fines of up to $300,000. I hope he is sentenced to that,
This is taking age into account. If he had been over 18 the penalties would’ve been harsher. And it doesn’t include the extortion aspect. I hope he’s arrested soon.
And he hasn’t changed. As recently as last year, his then GF says he slapped and then tried to choke her: Teen Democratic Candidate Aaron Coleman Accused of Choking His Girlfriend
I assume for prosecuters to even consider charging him, however, they’ll need more evidence than her saying he did it. I’m guessing if they look into this, they’re either going to have to find the picture online with proof that he uploaded it or some record on his phone (or with his carrier or a cloud backup) that he does or did poses the picture.
It seems entirely possible that if the picture isn’t on the internet anymore, they may not be able to prove anything, especially if he no longer has the phone it was taken with.
It’s equally possible you’re wildly underestimating this fellows stupidity.
I wasn’t really estimating it at all. I didn’t mean to imply he purposely covered his tracks, just that they may have been covered on their own. Pictures get uploaded with throwaway accounts. People get new phones. It happens. I doubt someone could find a random picture I uploaded to some random website 5 years and two phones ago.
Of course, for all I know, he sent the picture to all his friends at the time, friends that are now potential witnesses to him distributing child porn.
Of course. And the victim’s cooperation would probably be necessary as well. It’s possible they won’t be able to prosecute.
But I’m ASTOUNDED that he doesn’t seem to comprehend the severity of the crime. He’s acting like it was a childhood prank, instead of something that is a serious felony even for a juvenile and that would’ve been a capital crime if committed by someone over 18.
I dont think the state would be unable to prosecute without the victim’s cooparation; however, that would make conviction more difficult.
Oh, he understands the severity of the crime. He just does not believe that whatever he does is criminal. If someone were to have done this to, say, his mother or sister, his attitude towards that person would be much different than what he’s displaying now.
Great post! This is such an important concept.
What the heck? The twerp got elected.
Only because he ran unopposed.
Seriously though, fuck that guy. Or rather, don’t.