People have way too much faith in the law enforcement system. If mini ladd/kiwiz haven't gotten any sort of jail time at all then I have high doubts carson is going to get anything happening to him. The feds aren't just looking to throw everyone and anyone in jail, they're looking for people with hundreds/thousands of images of CP on their drives. Those are the kinds of people they go after, people that actually contribute to the market of CP. Stuff like this has happened on twitter quite infrequently of e-celebs sexting people underage and nothing at all has happened to them. The most that would happen (if they cared) is that they would put it on the state to investigate, and most states have 3 year statute of limitations on these sort of ordeals since they're 3rd degree felonies. Feds can come after people whenever they want however since there's no federal statute of limitations. However, feds are always going to be more interested in targeting people that are running dark web sites or people producing/reselling CP. They are not going to waste their time on a situation of two teens sexting back and forth.
Both parties are guilty. The 17 year old willingly sent images to carson with distribution/production/possession. Carson could be charged with exploitation/possession/receipt. People forget that teens can be charged with crimes for sexting as well, just a lot less than the adult would receive but still have that on their record.
Adding on that carson could afford an extremely good lawyer in this scenario, chances of anything happening? Near zero. But if carson gets the slammer before mini ladd or kiwiz does (two people that have done from every single objective stand point, far worse), I'll be fairly upset and overall disappointed in the justice system in the US. People acted like he killed someone in cold blood. At the bare minimum he was honest about it.
