APNewsBreak: Student in Pa. district where ’sexting’ was issue sues over confiscated phone

APNewsBreak: Pa. student sues over cell phone pics

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A teenager is suing a Pennsylvania school district after her principal confiscated her cell phone, found nude images and gave it to prosecutors.

The federal suit says Tunkhannock Area High School Principal Gregory Ellsworth illegally searched the 17-year-old’s phone in January 2009.

The district was also the subject of the first criminal “sexting” case to reach a federal appeals court. The court ruled in March that a prosecutor could not charge a teenage girl who appeared in a similar photo.

The latest suit says the principal turned the phone in this case over to an earlier prosecutor, who allegedly threatened to charge the girl unless she took a class on sexual violence.

The suit was filed Thursday and seeks damages against Ellsworth, the district, prosecutors and a detective.