When Keepin' It Jilted Goes Wrong.

Anyone who's ever been young is likely familiar with having your heart ripped out by some strumpet who decided she wanted to hang with the point guard at Wake Forest a person who no longer wanted your companionship. Teenage love is fraught with such pitfalls, but most of us learn from our mistakes, wise up, and eventually love again.

Too bad this young fella, Phillip Alpert didn't think twice before he hit the send button.

After his former girlfriend taunted him, Phillip Alpert remembered the nude photos she e-mailed to him while they were dating.

He took revenge with an electronic blast _ e-mailing the photos of the 16-year-old girl to more than 70 people, including her parents, grandparents and teachers.

Three days later, Alpert, then 18, was charged with transmitting child pornography. Today Alpert is serving five years of probation for the crime, and he is registered as a sex offender _ a label he must carry at least until he is 43.

"I didn’t know how bad of a decision it was," Alpert, now 19, said recently at his MetroWest apartment. "I don’t think it’s fair."

Alpert is one of many people across the country who are being charged with felonies and getting sentenced as sex offenders for doing something their friends do all the time, unaware of potential criminal charges.

So this poor guy decides to get back at his girlfriend 09' style, and ends up Ruben Patterson-ing himself in the process. What a jackass! I happened to catch this fella on the news the other day, and he seemed genuinely contrite, but his life is shot regardless. He can't live within a certain radius of a school, was kicked out of college, and cannot get a job. All because he didn't just brush it off, find himself a chick his own age, and keep it movin'.

Interestingly, the "statutory rape" angle of this whole story wasn't even touched. I could be wrong, but if the girl is 16 and he's 18, isn't that a crime in many states? Somebody fill me in. Uh, BTW, considering the fact that she sent him the photos via email in the first place, doesn't that mean she's also guilty of something?

I guess the ultimate question here is fairness: Does this dude deserve to have his life ruined for a careless act of irrational exuberance? I don't think so. The fact that he'll be lumped in with rapists and molesters for the majority of his young adult life seems a bit harsh. Then again, it's hard to discount the stress and embarrassment the young lady had to deal with as a result of his cowardice. So, I can't really call it. Can you?

Question: Should Phillip Alpert be forced to register himself as a sex offender for such a cowardly act or is this punishment a bit too severe for the infraction? Got any "jilted lover gone bad" stories you wanna share?

Teenagers see serious consequences of ’sexting’ [Boston Herald]