Terra KaterOk. I have a situation that happened to my son. My son is 14. He is a freshman in high school. I got a call from the school two weeks ago, that said that someone had anonymously reported him for sending around pornography (supposedly of girls around 14) I guess there is an anonymous tip line that anyone can accuse people of things, and they can investigate. So someone accused my son of this. The vice prinicpal called me and he said they didn’t have any proof, but they were going to talk to him.
Now, of course I spoke with my son and he said he did not have anything like this on his phone. Then the police showed up at his dad’s house, and took his phone. They had it for almost 2 weeks. So here we are, thinking, is there something? Is our son telling the truth? I did not grow up with a phone or social media (thank god). Yesterday, we get the phone back and there was absolutely nothing illegal that was found on his phone.
I have to say, that for me and his dad (we are divorced and co parenting) this was really a stressful time. It was also extremely stressful for my son as well. My question is, is what they did here legal?
Sarcasm is all I have Left@americansfordemocracy
It's legal for them to ask your son to voluntarily relinquish the phone, but it is not legal for them to demand it unless they had a warrant.
If they were demanding and did not have a warrant, they could confiscate it, but they can't search it without a warrant.
In either case, your son (and you) had every right to have a lawyer intervene and require a warrant be issued before they searched it.