Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Asst. principal tells his own story

Two months after his boss, the principal of Freedom High School in Loudoun County, Va., told him to store a photo of a semi-naked girl on his computer "in case we needed it later," Asst. Principal Ting-Yi Oei was charged with "failure to report suspected child abuse" and put on administrative leave (he hadn't been able to ID the girl because the photo was taken from the neck down). That was last May, he writes in a commentary in the Washington Post. Only this month did his legal ordeal end, with the charges against him thrown out of court, as earlier reported (here's my post). Thought you'd like to get his take on what happened. It's a long story, so I'll leave the details of this latest misapplication of child-porn law in a sexting case to the teller.
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4 comments:

  1. CodaMay 7, 2009 at 8:26 AM

    See a UK incident: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article6241671.ece

    I cannot understand the apparent unfairness here.
    Has the School Headmaster any role here?

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  2. AnneMay 7, 2009 at 8:36 AM

    Good question, Coda. Very complex story, and not certain if my first post on the subject helps much, but basically - the reporting indicates - the head of school who told him to save the photo on his hard drive did not go to bat for him when he was being prosecuted for doing just that (in legalese, for possession of child pornography). Thanks for commenting. The UK piece you link to is equally interesting and concerning.

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  3. mariaNovember 7, 2009 at 6:34 PM

    Why wasn't the principal suspended, where were they when all this broke out? Surely, they are to take some responsibility for the idea of storing material which was highly unsavory? Poor guy. He sounds as if he was thrown to the dogs with no support.

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  4. AnneNovember 8, 2009 at 11:56 AM

    He pretty much was, Maria. But all resolved now. Case against the asst. principal thrown out of court, and fortunately a portion of his legal fees paid for by friends and supporters. But it was an extremely wrenching experience for an asst. person just trying to do his job. Thanks for posting.

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