SPARTANBURG, S.C. – A 40-year-old woman summoned authorities after discovering her 15-year-old son had been viewing pornography on the family’s television.
The mother now disputes the original reports, saying she called the county sheriff’s office but not solely because her son was watching porn.
Originally reported by The Smoking Gun, the incident allegedly began when the mother, a married real estate agent, arrived at her home with her two-year-old daughter and a client in tow. The 15-year-old alleged perpetrator was in his bedroom when his baby sister turned on the living room TV. According to police reports, the mother, the little girl, and the client got an eyeful of explicit adult content.
After quickly ushering her toddler out of the room, the mother turned off the TV and called 911 to report the incident.
Sheriff’s deputies responded and took a report, but no charges were filed.
The story generated international attention. On Thursday, the mother told The [Spartanburg, S.C.] Post and Courier pornography was not the issue. Instead, she wanted official documentation about her son’s increasingly delinquent behavior. According to the mom, the boy talks back, steals, and doesn’t listen to his parents in addition to watching pornography.
“It’s not like I don’t know how to handle something like [watching porn],” she told The Post and Courier. “If he was just watching porn, I would have disciplined him accordingly. Why am I calling the police for that?
“He’s a disturbed 15-year-old who has behavior problems, and that’s why I called [the sheriff’s office],” the mom continued. “I wanted authorities involved to see if they could talk to him and maybe he could think about his actions and the choices he was making, to keep him from going into the system.”
Since the story broke in news outlets including the Huffington Post, the London Daily Mail, the New York Daily News and UPI, the mother said she has received “hateful” emails, thanks to several media running a photo they obtained from her Facebook page.
The circus seems to have amused Sheriff’s Department staff. Lt. Kevin Bobo told the Huffington Post no South Carolina law had been broken. He also said the 911 call was a first for his department.
“Is it unusual for a momma to call the police on teenagers looking at porn? Yeah, it is,” he told HuffPo.
