Is Investigating a School Sexting Incident the Same As Possessing Child Porn? A Judge Says No.

A Colorado school administrator will no longer face child pornography charges for investigating a student sexting incident, a local judge ruled late last month, ending a legal odyssey that raised broader questions about prosecutorial discretion, overcriminalization, law enforcement accountability, and coercive plea bargaining.

Bradley Bass of Brush, Colorado, was facing up to 12 years in prison, a spot on the sex offender registry, and an end to his career. But that potential punishment never fit the alleged crime, particularly when considering that no one involved in the case, including the prosecution, posited Bass meant any harm when he conducted a probe in accordance with school board policy.

There was “no evidence of deceit or concealment,” wrote Morgan County District Court Judge Charles M. Hobbs, and “no improper motive.” That was clear from the start of the case, though it didn’t deter prosecutors.

Last year, Bass learned that explicit images of a female student were circulating among male students. School Resource Officer (SRO) Jared Barham first received that tip; he was temporarily working nights and declined to investigate or share the tip with other officers.

So Bass investigated the complaint. “The school administration prioritized this as a high-priority matter, because their concerns are [the] best interests of the students,” says Michael Faye, who represented Bass. “He basically did the officer’s work for him.”

Bass’ probe turned up risqué pictures saved in Snapchat, a photo-sharing app where images typically disappear after receipt. To collect evidence, he took pictures of the photos on his work cellphone, uploaded them to a school server, and says he told the boys to delete the pictures. A forensic investigation concluded that Bass did not access the pictures after the fact, and the female student in question maintained that Bass did nothing wrong.

He was arrested, booked at the Morgan County Detention Center, and charged with four counts of sexual exploitation of a child anyway. There’s an interesting carve-out to that law: It “does not apply to peace officers or court personnel in the performance of their official duties.” Put differently, Barham opted not to do his job, so Bass was arrested for doing it for him. It wasn’t necessarily an outlier moment. “We had testimony at the hearing that this SRO