Hunter Osborn, a senior at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, AZ, is likely breathing a heavy sigh of relief.
The 19-year-old varsity football player was facing 69 counts of indecent exposure plus one count of furnishing harmful items to minors after flashing his ding dong to the camera during the teams yearbook photo. Now, the county attorneyâs office has announced that it is dropping the charges. All 69 + 1 of them.
Related:Â High School Footballer Arrested For Exposing Himself In Yearbook Already Has An Offer From Playgirl
According to Osborn, a teammate dared him to flash the camera on picture day. His goal post was circulated for months in football game programs and the yearbook before anyone at the school realized what happened. Upset that they had been duped, school officials reported Osborn to the police.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
After giving it some thought, county attorney Bill Montgomery decided not to ruin Osbornâs life over a stupid high school prank, distasteful as it was. In a statement, his office explains:
The Maricopa County Attorneyâs Office has completed a review of a case submitted by the Mesa Police Department involving a Red Mountain High School student arrested Saturday for allegedly exposing himself in a team photo that appeared in the schoolâs yearbook and in programs sold at football games.
âAn assessment of the available evidence for the felony charge of Furnishing Harmful Items to Minors, ARS 13-3506.A., leads us to conclude that the evidence does not establish a violation of the statute,â said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. âMCAO has furthered review of remaining misdemeanor charges submitted by the Mesa Police Department for possible submittal to the Mesa City Prosecutorâs Office.â
With the matter pending further review, the County Attorneyâs Office will have no additional comment at this time.
Earlier this week, Playgirl purportedly had offered Osborn an opportunity to do a nude spread in the magazine to help cover the cost of his legal bills. It is unclear whether that offer still stands now that the charges have been dropped.
Related:Â PHOTOS: 19-Year-Old UK Footballer Has Secretly Been Showing Off His Goal Post On Tumblr
Billy Budd
Sense and Sensibility (not the book) took precedence over hysteria.
strix1
Maricopa County Attorneyâs Office is brutal…he lucky! When I was in HS, taking pics for yearbook and newsletters, we had to scan each picture for wayward fingers and inappropriate text (on book covers/papers) and in sports, embarrassing “positions” (either bodies or body parts) before the pics were used. The teacher should have some blame, they are the final editor. It’s good they dropped the legal charges…he should be responsible for reimbursing parents who want a refund for the yearbooks they paid for which have his exposed joke in them.
Ksb1978
Glad they dropped the charges. It was a an overreaction.
strix1
I take back what I said…you can’t even see anything in the yearbook…he only exposed his head…and I read the school recalled all the yearbooks, “so they can block out the few pixels with a sharpie.” Case closed.
You can judge for yourself:
https://realitycheck753.wordpress.com/2016/05/04/high-school-football-player-charged-with-70-counts-of-indecent-exposure-for-this-team-photo/
MMDD
@strix1: OK, seriously? *That* is the pic that people went nuts over? There’s probably not another man alive who would jump at the opportunity to gawk at an exposed penis on a cute guy as eagerly as I would, but geez Louise, you can barely see anything in that pic. And I would’ve never even known he was exposed without all this publicity. Really glad the charges were dropped.
Matt G
yeah, any charges related to creating/distributing obscene materials would be on whatever adult staff was in charge of the yearbook. Guess they weren’t checking that close before it went to print…….
Marky
It’s 2016; it’s called “retouching”. It didn’t end up in the yearbook unless the designer/student allowed it to since all photos are edited prior to publication. The school sent the finished/approved yearbook files to the publisher. If anyone was at fault, it was the school itself for not doing their due diligence… specifically the teacher that was organizing the yearbook. A student left that photo–unedited–in on purpose and the teacher didn’t even look at the final layout of the book. Teacher could have easily queued up all images to which the book is linked and reviewed them quickly for issues. A dick isn’t exactly hard to spot if you’ve been doing this for a while. Photographer isn’t at fault because they did exactly what they were supposed to do, but they should have notified the school after they REVIEWED ALL OF THEIR WORK since within the context of this project, involving minors, a nude would be inappropriate (as opposed to taking a photo to be used in a medical or legal context).
I feel like this is all a result of people half-assing every step of designing and producing that book and that’s how the dick slipped through the crack, so to speak… imho. đ
The school screwed up and threw their student under the bus. Student probably violated rules, but the school then violated his privacy by publishing a nude photo of the student and then DISTRIBUTING IT TO THE ENTIRE STUDENT BODY. He should be the one pressing charges. That could be considered child pornography if distributed. I would have to have that pulled from a production line if I saw that and I would ALSO have to notify the police. Just sayin.
martinbakman
Why does this story belong on Kwear-Tee?