Second case of juvenile recorded naked, shared on social media leaves parent, prosecutors at odds

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) -Tiffany Smith said she knew immediately something was wrong.

The Coffee County mother’s 12-year-old daughter, whose name WSMV4 is not reporting because of her age, came to her in May.

“I noticed that she was crying and was upset, and I said, ‘What’s wrong?’” Smith said.

As detailed in a police report, Smith’s daughter said a female friend from school had taken video of her while she was naked and stepping out of the shower.

Smith said when asked about it, the other girl admitted it.

“(The girl) said she’d done it as a joke, and I’m like, that’s not a joke,” Smith said.

Smith said she then made sure the girl deleted the video from her phone and from her phone’s trash app.

But not long after, Smith said another parent approached her.

“(The other parent said) have you seen what they shared on social media about (Smith’s daughter)?” Smith said. “She shows me, and it’s the video that I had the little girl delete off her phone.”

Smith believes the video remained in the girl’s iCloud account and, according to a juvenile petition, was shared on Snapchat, a social media app, with a group of other girls.

Smith said she immediately went to police, filing police reports on the girl accused of recording the video and the girls who received the video.

“It wasn’t easy for me to press charges on them because I’ve always treated them like I treated my kids,” Smith said.

Smith said the idea of a naked video of her 12-year-old daughter shared on social media makes her sick.

“We don’t know how many people have seen it. We don’t know how many people kept it on their phone,” Smith said. “(Smith’s daughter) doesn’t know how many people saw it. She’s got to go back to school and face all of this.”

WSMV4 Investigates corroborated the existence of the video.

What Smith said her daughter experienced is strikingly similar to what happened to Franklin County mother Tia Stovall.

In 2021, WSMV4 Investigates reported that Stovall’s son was recorded naked without his permission in a school bathroom and the video was shared on Snapchat.

“When I actually saw it with my own eyes, I broke down and cried,” Stovall said in 2021.

As a result of what happened to Stovall’s son, the state law about unlawful photography changed, removing a clause that read “in order to be convicted, a person who recorded someone naked had to receive sexual gratification from it.”

With that clause removed, the new law states that is someone records a person to “offend, intimidate, embarrass, ridicule or harass,” then the person making the recording can be charged with a Class B misdemeanor.

“Now, when you do that, young people, or anyone, there is a recourse through the court system, not a slap on the hand,” state Rep. Iris Rudder, R-Manchester, said.

So, when Smith sought prosecution on behalf of her daughter, she intended for the juvenile to be punished under the new law.

“My daughter’s case would be one of the first cases in Coffee County, Tennessee, that applied to that law,” Smith said.

But Smith said the girls were first cited for being “unruly children,” but that prosecutors didn’t think that charge would apply.

None of the girls who received the video were ultimately charged, and Craig Northcott, the district attorney for Coffee County, would not comment on what the girl accused of making the recording was ultimately charged with.

In emails with WSMV4 Investigates, Northcott wrote he could not elaborate because this was a juvenile matter, but did write the alleged crime occurred in May before the new law took effect.

“Because this happened prior to July 1, we have to evaluate it under the old version of the law that requires the motive for taking the video being sexual gratification. We are reviewing the facts to see what, if any, crime was committed under the law as it existed at the time of the incident,” Northcott wrote.

He also wrote, “(Smith) is justifiably upset about the situation and wants something to be done. Hopefully, she understands that we will do what we can under the confines of the law.”

Smith said it just doesn’t seem fair as she said the girl who recorded the video was ultimately put on probation and ordered by a judge not to be on social media for six months.

“The new law should take effect, regardless of when it was passed. It should take effect to anyone who this has happened to,” Smith said.

WSMV Investigates did contact Smith’s daughter’s school to see if any of the girls originally cited in the police reports faced disciplinary action as a result.

While we are not name the school to protect Smith’s daughter’s privacy, a spokesman for the school emails that no disciplinary action was taken because both the alleged crime occurred off campus and it did not “create a hostile educational environment or otherwise create a substantial disruption to the educational environment or learning process.”

Smith disputes that, saying that her daughter has already faced bullying as a result of coming forward.

Smith said she would continue to advocate for her daughter.

“I’m doing what any mother would do to protect their child. I’m not the one who’s in the wrong,” Smith said.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.