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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Topless Photo of Teacher Not Porn, Says Att’y

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. - The attorney for a 27-year-old teacher accused of emailing topless photos of herself to a student says the pictures are not pornography.

Parents of the student, a freshman at Barat Academy, found the photos of Melissa Moss, 27, on their computer. Moss has been fired from the independent Catholic school that opened just 14 months ago.

Moss' attorney, Michael Kielty, said she is innocent.

"The portrayal of a woman's bare breasts in and of themselves as being pornographic seems to be a bit strong," Kielty said. "We don't know the context and I haven't seen the evidence, but what I am saying is that bare breasts in and of themselves are not pornography."

Moss has been charged with a misdemeanor of furnishing pornographic material to a minor. The pictures were posted on Facebook, the Internet site.

Kielty is no stranger to high-profile cases. He was one of the defenders for Michael Devlin in his kidnapping case last year. Dardenne Prairie is 40 miles west of St. Louis.

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