Hales Franciscan school chief: Lewd photos not a ‘criminal act’

CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune

By Adam Sege
Tribune reporter
9:53 a.m. CST, November 8, 2013

The head of a South Side Catholic school said he doesn’t think there is anything criminal about sexually explicit photographs that were passed among students, even though a staff member has told police “a more serious crime may have been committed.”

Hales Franciscan High School president Jeffrey Gray refused to release details of the photos and would not say whether the female in them is a student at the school, which just went co-ed this year. “I can’t confirm that right now,” he said.

Gray said the photos surfaced about a month ago and the school disciplined the students involved after talking to their parents. Asked what they did, he would only say, “There’s a couple of incidents that we have been looking into.” The students have since returned to school, he said.

“The proper discipline actions were meted out and we thought this was done and over with,” Gray said.

But then the matter somehow came to the attention of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, and Gray said it was decided to contact the police last weekend, “a little less than 30 days” after the school administration learned of the photos.

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