A US teenager has learned the hard way the errors of a high school yearbook prank, after a photo of him exposing his genitals while posing with the rest of the football team saw him charged with 69 counts of indecent exposure.
Hunter Osborn, 19, claims he was dared by another player to pose with this sports gear down, but the photograph went unnoticed by the year book’s editorial team. The image was then distributed to 3,400 students and their families.
Osborn’s joke has now backfired, as along with facing indecent exposure charges, the Mesa Police Department in Arizona has also charged him with a class-one misdemeanour and one count of furnishing harmful items to minors, because many of the football players in the photograph were under the age of 18 at the time when the photo was taken.
The image was also printed on match programmes sold at all of the Red Mountain High School’s home football games.
Described by his neighbours as a "smart kid who made a mistake," Hunter Osborn now faces charges [Mesa Police Department]
“It is still an ongoing investigation,” said Detective Steve Berry. “The number of charges may go up or down depending upon how the investigation continues.”
Responding to the news, Mesa Public School said in a statement: “The district is dismayed by the actions of the students involved in the photograph. Their behaviour does not reflect the values of Red Mountain High School or Mesa Public Schools.”
The school administration said that it immediately alerted the police when informed about the nature of the prank. All copies of the yearbook have been recalled “so that the school can make a minor but critical edit for the inappropriate content,” a local TV news programme said.
For more world news on Newstalk.com, please click here.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
