Not a legal expert by any means, but my guess is: the authorities disapprove of teens sexting, there's no specific law against sexting (and probably no constitu

Not a legal expert by any means, but my guess is: the authorities disapprove of teens sexting, there's no specific law against sexting (and probably no constitutional way to ban it), but the child pornography laws can be stretched to extend to it. Thus although the prosecution is facially absurd, everyone involved knows what's "really" being prosecuted here and is okay with it.