Hannah Montana, child pornography, and a Polk County principal

June 27, 11:57 PMTampa Crime ExaminerCharisse Van Horn

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What do Hannah Montana, child pornography and a Polk County, Florida principal have in common? Plenty! Hannah Montana, or Miley Cyrus, the actress who portrays the Disney star, is the subject of a child pornography case. This case doesn’t involve photos that were taken of the teen pop star, however, but rather images that were doctored to become pornography.

Miley Cyrus was born November 23, 1992, making her 16 years old at the time of the child pornography incident. The case focuses on a man from Tennessee named Michael Wayne Campbell. He is being accused of taking images of Miley Cyrus’ face, as well as photos of the faces of a 10 year old and 12 year old girl, and affixing them to the bodies of nude women. These images are referred to as cut and paste or morphed images and can be considered as child pornography, depending upon state laws. In 2002, the United States Supreme Court determined that morphed pornographic images are an expression of free speech, providing that no children are harmed. Making some cases more difficult to prosecute than others.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that morphed images are on the rise. As pedophiles feel that they can use these images for sexual gratification and avoid prosecution, they are becoming more frequent and more cases are going to trial. It’s not as easy as sex offenders and pedophiles would like it to be to get away with these cut and paste pornography crimes, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling. Many states have enabled laws that allow prosecution based upon using minors for sexual gratification, despite the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on free speech and virtual images.

Tampa Bay just saw a similar issue in the case involving former Polk County principal, John Stelmack. Stelmack, former principal of Scott Lake Elementary School in Lakeland, Florida had been morphing images of two young students on the nude body of a 19-year-old model. The girl’s faces were photos of students from schools where Stelmack had worked. There were five images involved. Four of the images were the face of a 12 year old from Scott Lake Elementary; the other was the face of an 11-year-old student that attended a school in New York where Stelmack had previously worked as principal. Stelmack was found guilty of five counts of possessing child pornography. Sentencing for Stelmack is scheduled for July; he faces up to 25 years in prison.