Parents Sue Over Kids' Bath Photos

[jasmine]

http://news.aol.com/article/walmart-demaree-kids-bath-photos-lawsuit/675644

Parents Sue Over Kids' Bath Photos

PHOENIX (Sept. 18) -- An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant.

Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit.

The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn't regain custody for a month while the state investigated.

Neither parent was charged with sexual abuse and they regained custody of their children — then ages 1 1/2, 4 and 5 — but the Demarees claim the incident inflicted lasting harm.

The couple is seeking undetermined monetary damages from both Walmart and the state and have requested a jury trial.
Richard Treon, the lawyer for the Demarees, said the images of the girls were part of a group of 144 photographs taken mostly during the family's vacation in San Diego.

There were seven to eight bath- and playtime photos of the girls that showed a "portion or outline or genitalia."

"There was nothing sexual about it," Treon said. "This is a parent's worst nightmare."

One lawsuit names Arizona, Peoria and the state Attorney General's Office as defendants, claiming that employees from each defamed them by telling friends, family members and co-workers that they had "sexually abused" their children by taking pornographic pictures of them.

A second lawsuit, naming Walmart as the defendant, says the company is at fault for not telling Anthony Demaree that it had an "unsuitable print policy" and could decide to turn any photos over to law enforcement.

Calls to Arkansas-based Walmart and officials from Peoria and Arizona seeking comment on the suits were not immediately returned Thursday.

[krisharry]

The whole situation is effed up.

[pepperpot]

Who doesn't have a picture of their toddler's behind? :shrug

[ahippiechic]

Thats f'ed up, I thought everyone had chubby nekkid bath pix of their kids.

[fleabones3]

I have several. Those are the sweet innocent days.. or used to be

[mabby89]

Cant do that anymore unless you have a printer at home. My mom had a crapload of pics of me when I was little and nekkid. I have pics of my kids when they were babies. Just stupid IMO.

[Licchl05]

If the Walmart and the state are too stupid to realize the difference between innocent picture taking and child porn then clearly something should be done to the accusing parties. Geesh, I guess I should be in jail because I took bathtime pics of Chloe when she was a baby! Hope these parents get a nice settlement because this is simply stupid they and their girls had to endure this.

[iluvmybaby]

I have pictures of myself as a child in just diapers and in the bath tub, thank God 25 years ago that wasnt abuse

[hblueeyes]

This is one I hope the parents win. WalMart employees have too much time on their hands.

Me

[ahippiechic]

I Snapfish and Artcow will develop bath pix like that.

[ttistin]

that is so stupid, just one more reason why to not leave the house. Can't even take some innocent pictures of your child.

I only have one picture of me as a child. It is of me and my cousin in the bathtub, I am so glad that I have that picture.

[ilovecats]

I think some of these people are just stupid and totally misunderstand the rules.my dd works in photo at cvs,they develop pictures like that.They won't develop sexual adult type pics.You would be surprised at how many people try to,lmao.

[gmyers]

I think people worry so much about child abuse they've got over zealous in seeing it where it isn't.

[freeby4me]

I think people worry so much about child abuse they've got over zealous in seeing it where it isn't.

Im hoping and thinking this is the case. The person saw naked kid pictures so called the police.

I do also hope they win their case though.

[janelle]

Don't the police look at the pics before taking children away from their parents? How stupid. Go to any photo studio and I guarantee you will find a pic of a naked baby on the wall to show their work. It's all innocent unless you are a pedophile but then they will see child porn everywhere, even at the playground---they are bent that way. Maybe they should check out the Walmart employee who thought it was porn in the first place.

[gmyers]

I don't agree with what was done to them. I think they're going with the theory of better safe than sorry. Maybe they're afraid of lawsuits if its pornography and they don't report it.

[Dolores]

I agree. Guess I better hide the bath pics of my kids & grandkids. I even have an old one my parents took of me as an infant naked on a fake bearskin rug!

[Willow]

My oldest daughter had nude pictures taken of her baby when he was just a couple of months old at Sears. She wasn't planning on having them done nude but when she got to Sears they told her about the different poses and that was one that they offered. They had her lay the baby on some type of fluffy rug. Only his butt was showing. She did have pictures of him taken with his clothes on too but if the portrait studios are offering this I don't see why these parents got in trouble for it. I hope they win a lot of money.

[Jolie Rouge]

I agree. Guess I better hide the bath pics of my kids & grandkids. I even have an old one my parents took of me as an infant naked on a fake bearskin rug!

Watch out - that one will have PETA after you as well! :rofl:

[Anniston]

Walmart may have a policy that they report all naked photos of minors to police. In today's litigious society, photo labs have to cover their tails. I think the true fault lies within the state who could have easily investigated it, and found it all to be harmless. If there were no other red flags, it is hard to understand why the children were taken away.

Years ago (around 1998) my friend worked in the photo lab at Walgreens. There, they had to notify police of any nudity photographed when the subject appeared to be a minor.

[YankeeMary]

I get most of my pics developed at walmart. I have had a bazillion of Gracie developed while nekkid in the tubby. Running through the house with high heels on and bare but just a shining. I think society as a whole sucks any more. They take something innocent and ruin it. While allowing horrible rotten terrible people not only breath but reproduce. I hope that if these pics are innocent, I hope the parents win HUGE bucks.

[Renrut]

7 years ago I came across a pic of my cousin that was adopted out and myself in the bathtub. I was sitting but he was standing up naked and his wee wee was showing. It was black and white and it was over 20 years old. I took it to walmart to make copies of of cause we had found my cousin finally and he didnt have any pics of himself growing up. I put it in the machine for one hour. When I came back to get them in a hour they had the police there waiting for me.

Their dumb a**es didnt realize how freakin old it was and was nothing to it. I explained it all to the police and thankfully after 2 hours, nothing happened but they said to never copy that picture again. Needless to say, I now have a scanner lol.

[jasmine]

There were seven to eight bath- and playtime photos of the girls that showed a "portion or outline or genitalia."

I'm guessing bare bottoms is ok, but if there is any "genitalia".... in a pic. then it would be questioned.
I think little bare-bottom pictures of babies are ADORABLE!! I have some of my kids and I treasure them.

[YankeeMary]

7 years ago I came across a pic of my cousin that was adopted out and myself in the bathtub. I was sitting but he was standing up naked and his wee wee was showing. It was black and white and it was over 20 years old. I took it to walmart to make copies of of cause we had found my cousin finally and he didnt have any pics of himself growing up. I put it in the machine for one hour. When I came back to get them in a hour they had the police there waiting for me.

Their dumb a**es didnt realize how freakin old it was and was nothing to it. I explained it all to the police and thankfully after 2 hours, nothing happened but they said to never copy that picture again. Needless to say, I now have a scanner lol.

If they were truly that concerned they wouldn't have given you the original back to you, kwim?