Child Porn Charges Dropped Against School Principal

LEESBURG, Va. (WUSA) -- It's a threat that thousands of educators have in the back of their minds. What do you do if you're falsely accused of doing something wrong with the children in your care?

An assistant high school principal says he finally has his reputation back after a cell phone photo led authorities to slap him with a child porn charge.

A judge has tossed out all the charges. He says the photo wasn't even porn.

A year after deputies arrested and hauled him off in front of his colleagues, vindication for Ting Yi-Oei. "There are feelings of joy that I have that the case was dismissed and we can try getting our lives back together. But at the same time there is still a great deal of pain," he told reporters with his wife at his side.

Oei was investigating what's called "sexting" -- teens sending naked pictures to each other -- at Freedom High School when authorites charged him first with failing to report suspected child abuse -- and then with felony possession of child porn.
Now the judge has dismissed all the charges.

"Mr Oei did nothing wrong. He violated no law. All he did was do his job," says his lawyer, Steven David Stone.

The judge has sealed the photo, and we wouldn't show it to you even if it was available. But people who have seen it say it is no more explicit than the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

We've been unable so far to get a comment from the prosecutor.
Oei's lawyer is demanding he apologize. "There was no business for this charge to ever have been brought."

Oei and his lawyer hope the case will encourage the whole community to come together and address the growing issue of teen sexting.

Oei says he still unsure how he would handle things differently if he finds out about sexting again. His lawyer says forcing school administrators to call down sheriff's deputies on their students every time there is a problem is completely unreasonable.