Teh One Who Knocks
01-28-2016, 12:37 PM
by Tim Cushing - Tech Dirt
http://i.imgur.com/Q1LA68V.jpg
Edwin Guzman is currently facing charges of "annoying and accosting" a person of the opposite sex, as well as disseminating harmful material to a minor. That would be Officer Guzman -- and not just any officer -- but Sergeant Guzman, who was promoted around the same time he was sending naked pictures of himself to a 16-year-old girl.
“It started off we regularly chat and it's mostly about school and how life is,” the teenager who was 16 at the time told 5 Investigates’ Mike Beaudet.
But she says the conversations kept escalating from there.
“If I gave him like pleasure and let him do things to me, he'd be willing to buy me things,” she said. “He took a picture of his penis and he sent it to me.”
Please note that if a classmate had sent a photo of his penis to this 16-year-old girl, he might be facing child pornography charges and a lifetime on the sex offender registry, rather than "annoying and accosting," which would net Guzman a maximum $200 fine and 6 months in jail.
That an officer -- and a family friend -- would use both of these positions to attempt to coerce a minor into sexual activity is disturbing enough. But what's more disturbing is his lawyer's dismissiveness of the teen's response to the unwanted explicit pictures. (h/t Chris Soghoian)
Afterward, his lawyer, Kenneth Anderson, said there are discussions with prosecutors to resolve the case.
“I really can’t go into detail given the nature of things. They’re serious charges,” Anderson said.
But he disputed the charges that Guzman sent a 16-year-old girl harmful pictures and said even if the allegation were true, he doesn’t believe the material would have been that shocking.
“You can’t tell me someone her age has never seen a picture of a penis on the Internet,” Anderson said.
So, by this rationale, the teen shouldn't be upset if an older relative, politician, church leader, trusted community figure, random neighbor or anyone else that shouldn't be sending dick pics to minor sent her explicit photos. After all, spend enough time on the internet and you're bound to see a penis. Perhaps Anderson could help her get over her fear of penis pictures by sending a few of his own her way.
This argument never should have been stated out loud. Hopefully, he won't be raising this in court. There's a huge difference between being sent an unwanted explicit photo and just coming across one while surfing the web. Add to this the fact that the person sending them was not only a family friend, but also in a position of power, and the disparity between "random internet dick pic" and what actually happened here becomes even greater. Even if the unnamed minor went searching for penis photos on the web, it would have been a consensual act. But there's nothing consensual about being sent explicit photos by a person in a position of power and trust -- one obviously willing to abuse both -- and arguing that just because someone has seen a penis before means they have no right to be upset about being sent unwanted photos is the lowest (in all senses of the word) form of rhetoric.
http://i.imgur.com/Q1LA68V.jpg
Edwin Guzman is currently facing charges of "annoying and accosting" a person of the opposite sex, as well as disseminating harmful material to a minor. That would be Officer Guzman -- and not just any officer -- but Sergeant Guzman, who was promoted around the same time he was sending naked pictures of himself to a 16-year-old girl.
“It started off we regularly chat and it's mostly about school and how life is,” the teenager who was 16 at the time told 5 Investigates’ Mike Beaudet.
But she says the conversations kept escalating from there.
“If I gave him like pleasure and let him do things to me, he'd be willing to buy me things,” she said. “He took a picture of his penis and he sent it to me.”
Please note that if a classmate had sent a photo of his penis to this 16-year-old girl, he might be facing child pornography charges and a lifetime on the sex offender registry, rather than "annoying and accosting," which would net Guzman a maximum $200 fine and 6 months in jail.
That an officer -- and a family friend -- would use both of these positions to attempt to coerce a minor into sexual activity is disturbing enough. But what's more disturbing is his lawyer's dismissiveness of the teen's response to the unwanted explicit pictures. (h/t Chris Soghoian)
Afterward, his lawyer, Kenneth Anderson, said there are discussions with prosecutors to resolve the case.
“I really can’t go into detail given the nature of things. They’re serious charges,” Anderson said.
But he disputed the charges that Guzman sent a 16-year-old girl harmful pictures and said even if the allegation were true, he doesn’t believe the material would have been that shocking.
“You can’t tell me someone her age has never seen a picture of a penis on the Internet,” Anderson said.
So, by this rationale, the teen shouldn't be upset if an older relative, politician, church leader, trusted community figure, random neighbor or anyone else that shouldn't be sending dick pics to minor sent her explicit photos. After all, spend enough time on the internet and you're bound to see a penis. Perhaps Anderson could help her get over her fear of penis pictures by sending a few of his own her way.
This argument never should have been stated out loud. Hopefully, he won't be raising this in court. There's a huge difference between being sent an unwanted explicit photo and just coming across one while surfing the web. Add to this the fact that the person sending them was not only a family friend, but also in a position of power, and the disparity between "random internet dick pic" and what actually happened here becomes even greater. Even if the unnamed minor went searching for penis photos on the web, it would have been a consensual act. But there's nothing consensual about being sent explicit photos by a person in a position of power and trust -- one obviously willing to abuse both -- and arguing that just because someone has seen a penis before means they have no right to be upset about being sent unwanted photos is the lowest (in all senses of the word) form of rhetoric.