Junior Hockey Players Accused Of Taping Sex With Teen, Sharing Video

Two junior hockey players are accused of having sex with a 15-year-old girl in their Minnesota hotel room, recording part of it, and then sharing the video with both their teammates and her friends.

Brandon Nicholas Smith and Thomas Ryan Carey, both 19, were charged last month with using a minor in a sexual performance and possession and distribution of child pornography, the Forum News Service reported. Their team, the USHL's Lincoln Stars, suspended them indefinitely.

Both play for the USHL's Lincoln Stars and were in Moorhead on Feb. 14 for a game against the Fargo Force. After the game, the girl went to the players' hotel with some friends and other players. There, she was allegedly videotaped while having sex with Carey.

She told investigators she learned it was being passed around "when she began to receive messages from other hockey players and girls, who contacted her saying, 'Nice video,'" per the .

When detectives interviewed the two men, Carey said both of them had sex with the girl and that Smith recorded Carey when he was having sex with her. Carey added that the girl said it was OK.

This is the part where we remind you she is 15 years old and they are both legally adults, a situation that is very much not OK. The Forum News Service notes that "Minnesota law says neither consent, nor a mistaken impression of the victim's age, are considered defenses against the crime of using a minor in a sexual performance."

But don't tell any of this to Smith's defense lawyer, Joseph Friedberg. On Tuesday, he called the charges against his client a misuse of state laws.

"The statute was designed for people who have pictures of sex with little children, something most of us can't look at and sleep," Friedberg said.

[...]

Friedberg said he didn't consider the 15-year-old in this case to be a child.

"Not this 15-year-old," he said.

No, no, no.

[ Forum News Service]