A Westfield, Indiana, teenager was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Friday for posting naked pictures of his ex-girlfriend on Instagram.
Kyle Mason Hughes, 19, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of distribution or exhibition of obscene matter at Hamilton County Superior Court in Noblesville, Indiana.
Hughes made a habit of posting the nude photos of his ex-girlfriend — who was a minor at the time — when she failed to respond to him. The first time he posted them was in March 2015, when she missed a phone call from him while on a field trip. The next time was in early April, when she didn’t respond to a text while she was taking a science test.
The girl reported Hughes to the police April 12, 2015, after he called her at 2 a.m. to tell her he’d posted the photos on Instagram again. She took a screenshot of the photos because Hughes tended to delete them. She reported the photos to Instagram, and his account was blocked the next day.
When police viewed screenshots of the photos on Hughes’ account, they saw Hughes had captioned them with the girl’s name and an oddly sweet message.
“The best thing that has ever happened to me,” Hughes had written. “Went through hell and we are still going strong.”
One photo showed the girl topless, posing with her hand to her mouth. The other showed her exposed genitals. Several students at school saw the photos, and one girl saved them to her phone and showed them off at her place of employment, the victim’s mother told police.
When Hughes made a statement to police later, he said the photos had been of a “porno” he’d been watching on Pornhub and that he “thought it looked good so he took a screenshot and put it on the internet for everyone to see,” according to court documents.
After police searched the victim’s phone, they found a bevy of harassing texts from Hughes, according to court documents. In the texts, he threatened to post the photos to his Instagram and then ordered her to look at them. He told her he was sending the photos to other kids and called her worthless.
He repeatedly told her she was ugly, and compared her genitals to roast beef.
Hughes was arrested in April 2015 but was later released. Since then, however, he’s had several run-ins with the law. He’s faced various alcohol- and drug-related charges and pleaded guilty to an OVI last year. He’s also facing charges of battery and invasion of privacy to the victim from this case. He has violated his probation twice and wound up back in jail.
Hughes kept his head down when he shuffled into the courtroom with his cuffs clinking. He looked tidy with glasses and his hair slicked back neatly despite his faded yellow Department of Corrections t-shirt.
When the judge asked what Hughes had to say for himself, he only answered after prompting from his attorneys.
“I never meant to do what I did,” Hughes said.
The judge was skeptical. He asked Hughes to clarify.
“I wouldn’t have done that in a sober mind.”
After the judge accepted Hughes’ plea agreement, which allowed him to plead down from felony charges of child exploitation, he gave him a warning.
“Mr. Hughes, if you cannot bring your behavior to a normal standard because of your substance problem, you need to do something about it,” the judge said. “Because being drunk out of your mind ain’t no excuse.”
