Police: Windsor High Students Face Child Pornography Charges After Posting Sex Tape

Two Windsor teens face child pornography charges after allegedly recording and posting to Facebook a video of a classmate engaged in a sexual act, according to Windsor Police and court documents.

A 16-year-old male allegedly used his iPhone in December 2011 to capture footage of a 15-year-old male friend engaged in sexual intercourse with a then-14-year-old female. In March 2012, after getting into an argument with the female’s then-boyfriend, the 16-year-old male briefly made the sex video public on his Facebook page in an act of revenge.

Windsor Police have not identified any of the parties involved; however court records identify the 16-year-old male as Malik J. McKnight of Windsor.

McKnight, accused of filming and posting the footage, has been charged with employing a minor in an obscene performance, third-degree possession of child pornography and risk of injury to a minor. McKnight will appear in Superior Court in October in Enfield, where his case will be heard despite his age because of the severity of the charges and according to state general statutes. He has been released on a promise to appear.

The unidentified 15-year-old male whom McKnight allegedly filmed while engaging in sexual intercourse with the girl is accused of inviting McKnight to tape the sexual act and then encouraging McKnight to post it on Facebook in March 2012, according to court records. The 15-year-old has also been charged with employing a minor in an obscene performance, third-degree possession of child pornography, risk of injury to a minor and conspiracy to commit a crime.

The charge of employing a minor in an obscene performance is a Class A felony in Connecticut, with a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison if convicted, according to the state penal code.

According to court documents, the girl hosted a group of friends, including the two male suspects, at her home. The 15-year-old male accompanied her to her bedroom and engaged in sexual intercourse, at which point he invited McKnight to film the act, court documents say. McKnight reportedly stopped filming when the girl asked him to do so.

The girl’s mother approached officials on March 30, 2012, with a complaint alleging that her daughter had been sexually assaulted by the 15-year-old boy in December 2011, according to court documents. During that investigation police discovered the existence of the video, to which several Windsor High School students later said they had seen on McKnight’s Facebook page.

In an interview with police, McKnight reportedly said that he posted the video to his Facebook profile page in anger after he had an argument with the girl's new boyfriend while he, the boyfriend, the unidentified 15-year-old and the girl were in detention at school on March 27, 2012. During that detention, as a means to enrage the girl’s then-boyfriend, McKnight and the unidentified 15-year-old male shared the video with other classmates who were also in detention.

The video, court documents say, was posted in an attempt to make the footage public "for one minute," but McKnight said he had trouble removing the video from his page. In his interview with police, McKnight reportedly said he posted the video because he was mad, but "knows it was wrong and would take it back if he could."