The Manassas City Police Department and Prince William County prosecutors would like to combat child porn by creating some of their own.

The Washington Post reports on some real messed up stuff going on in Virginia as a 17-year-old boy is facing charges of possession of child pornography and manufacturing child pornography for simply sexting his 15-year-old girlfriend (after she sexted him first). Mind you, these charges could not only jail the teen but land him on a sex offender database for the rest of his life. The girl has not been charged.

I guess I could stop there, but the dumb continues.

According to the unidentified teen’s lawyer, police and prosecutors are seeking a warrant to photograph his erect penis – you know, for comparison’s sake.

“We just take him down to the hospital, give him a shot and then take the pictures that we need,” a state prosecutor reportedly told the teen’s attorney.

This genius plan was first offered as part of an ultimatum – either the teen pleads guilty or they take him down to the hospital and snap photos of his erect penis. Apparently, the teen denied to plead guilty and the strong arm of the law jumped into action. The search warrant was granted earlier this month, but the teen was given permission to leave the state with his family before it could be executed. He has another court date on July 15.

“They’re using a statute that was designed to protect children from being exploited in a sexual manner to take a picture of this young man in a sexually explicit manner. The irony is incredible.” said the teen’s appointed guardian. “As a parent myself, I was floored. It’s child abuse. We’re wasting thousands of dollars and resources and man hours on a sexting case. That’s what we’re doing.”

Yeah, ya think?

While the boner pic warrant is ridiculous, let’s quickly comment on how utterly astounding it is that authorities are going after teens’ sexting activities with such vigor, labeling young children as sex offenders for engaging in normal sexual activity. That’s the real travesty here.

“The prosecutor’s job is to seek justice,” said the teen’s lawyer “What is just about this? How does this advance the interest of the Commonwealth?”

Well, it doesn’t. Write your congressperson.