Michigan teens could face criminal charges for catfishing teacher, sharing his nudes

Three Michigan teenagers pretended to be a 35-year-old woman online, got explicit images from a local teacher and then distributed them to his students, say investigators.

The teens, all between the ages of 14 and 15, “catfished” their mark by posing as a 35-year-old woman on a dating website using pictures from the internet, according to Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jim Charon told WOOD TV News 8 on Thursday.

The three teens did not attend the teacher’s school, but two knew him because he was their instructor at driving school.

Charon said the three teens shared the explicit pictures they received from the teacher with the students he taught, but that there were no signs of blackmail. The school district got word of the images and called the sheriff’s office earlier this week.

“When you’re talking about doing something and you’re pretending to be somebody that you’re not, then all of a sudden private information is shared, you treat that private information as a joke, that’s when people want other people held accountable for certain things — and rightfully so,” Charon said.

The teacher has not been accused of wrongdoing for sending sexually explicit photos to minors, as he believed he was interacting with a consenting adult.

“He was doing something he thought was between consenting adults. All of a sudden, now, this guy is basically all over the news for something that he thought was doing something in private with another consenting adult,” Charon said, who added that the teacher did not know about the leaked nudes until the sheriff’s office contacted him.

The sheriff’s office said the teens and their families were cooperating with the investigation. It has not yet been determined if criminal charges will be filed against the teenagers, and whether the case will be handled in juvenile or adult court.

“There were some other allegations that were made that the students were involved in,” Charon said. “So we have to look into that and see what those allegations are that could get minors in trouble.”