Teen who showed sex tape to friends will register as sex offender

A judge in Ohio has ordered a teen who admitted to secretly filming himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl and sharing the footage with classmates to register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.

Jeremiah Horton, 18, was indicted by a grand jury in December after the girl’s mother went to police with the video. Police said the senior football player sent it to fellow students at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati, from which he was later expelled, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

In addition to registering as a Tier 2 sex offender, Horton was sentenced by a judge to spend six months at River City Correctional Center, a rehab facility for nonviolent felony offenders. Horton had faced up to three years in prison, WKRC reports.

“I don’t think that’s appropriate, but you did something you shouldn’t have done, obviously,” Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick Dinkelacker told the teen. “And there’s a price to pay.”

The judge also warned Horton not to violate his parole upon release from custody, saying he would certainly spend significant time behind bars if that occurred.

“We’re not playing anymore,” Dinkelacker told the teen.

Horton, who was one of four teens prosecuted in connection with the video, pleaded guilty in April to a felony child pornography charge. As part of his sex offender designation, Horton will be required to register his address with authorities every six months for the next 25 years, the Enquirer reports.

Prosecutors said Horton shared the video with classmates in September. Three students then shared the explicit footage, including one 14-year-old boy who sent it as a group text messages to eight other people, according to court documents obtained by the newspaper.

Those three teens who were prosecuted in juvenile court have since been placed on probation.

Horton, for his part, apologized to the victim and her family in court Thursday, WKRC reports.

“I’m not proud of what I did,” Horton said, adding that he was also sorry for the humiliation he caused his father, who has raised him alone as a single parent.

Horton’s attorney, meanwhile, said his client’s actions were a “youthful indiscretion” gone awry.

“I doubt very seriously you’ll ever see this young man in the criminal justice system,” attorney Carl Lewis told Dinkelacker.

via: https://nypost.com/2019/05/24/teen-who-showed-sex-tape-to-friends-will-register-as-sex-offender/

Photo Credit: nypost.com/North College Hill Police