Star quarterback, 17, at an Indiana high school is expelled after taking an upskirt photo of his teacher and sharing it to Snapchat

Ben Slaton was thrown out of Plainfield High School on September 28 after administrators at his school discovered he had taken the upskirt image
The picture shows the educator, seated at a student's desk, wearing a skirt with her legs uncrossed
Ben Slaton said that he deleted the photo soon after sending it to his pals from school but others had shared the image on Snapchat
Before the September incident, Slaton was being eyed by Division I football programs across the country

Published: 00:27 GMT, 17 December 2017 | Updated: 03:47 GMT, 17 December 2017

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Ben Slaton (pictured) was thrown out of Plainfield High School on September 28 after administrators at his school discovered he had taken the image

A star athlete at an Indiana high school was expelled from campus after snapping an upskirt photo of his teacher and sharing it on Snapchat.

Ben Slaton, 17, was thrown out of Plainfield High School on September 28 after administrators at his school discovered he had taken a picture of his female teacher and sent it to three of his friends.

'I thought it would be funny to take a picture and send it to my friends,' Slaton explained during an interview with the Indy Star.

The picture shows the educator, seated at a student's desk, wearing a skirt with her legs uncrossed. The image does not show the teacher's face.

'By no means is what he did acceptable,' Damon Slaton, Ben's father, told the publication.

'He set the entire chain of events in motion. He broke my rule by having a cellphone in school. He made another conscious decision to take a picture in class – an inappropriate picture. It was. And then he made the conscious decision to share that picture with three other people.'

The picture shows the educator, seated at a student's desk, wearing a skirt with her legs uncrossed

Ben Slaton said that he deleted the photo soon after sending it to his pals from school. But others had uploaded the image to Snapchat, and were sharing it widely with other students.

When school administrators caught wind of the incident, they brought Slaton to speak with district officials along with local police.

'I waited there for like three hours alone in the office,' Slaton said. 'A police officer escorted me out of the building and took me to the (police) station.'

Capt. Jill Lees of the Plainfield Police Department said they could not provide a report on the matter because the case involves a juvenile.

Capt. Jill Lees (pictured) of the Plainfield Police Department said they could not provide a report on the matter because the case involves a juvenile

The teacher involved in the photograph, who has not been named, also declined to comment on the situation.

'Everybody thought they knew the whole story,' Damon Slaton said. 'We heard everything from 'Ben had a camera mounted on the desk' to 'Ben had a camera on his shoe' to 'Ben came up and took a picture under her skirt.'

'We heard everything imaginable. It kind of manifested into something that it wasn't. We lost some friends over it. He lost some friends. Some parents wouldn't let him over to the house for a while. Nobody really knew the whole story. Everybody kept thinking, 'There has to be more to what you're describing the picture as.' But there wasn't.'

According to a Indy Star reporter who has examined the image, while 'clearly inappropriate,' the photo does not reveal much beyond the teacher's legs which are cast heavily in shadows.

Before the September incident, Slaton, who recently turned 17, did not have a history of disciplinary problems.

Brent Schwanekamp, an assistant principal at Plainfield high school, noted the fact in a letter written to administration officials, noting the incident as 'out of character' for Slaton.

'It is clear that Ben showed terrible judgement on that day, but he has demonstrated remorse and is hopeful for forgiveness,' Schwanekamp added.

Before the September incident, Slaton was being eyed by Division I football programs across the country, enticed by his on the field performance along with his solid academic standing.

As a a quarterback for Plainfield during his sophomore year, Slaton threw 2,136 yards and 22 touchdowns. In six games as a junior before he was expelled, Slaton passed for 1,170 yards and 14 TDs, according to the Indy Star.

Slaton's family has now decided to send Ben to nearby Danville high school, where he's set to takeover the quarterback position when the new semester begins on January 3.

'He will have to adhere to the same stipulations he would have had at Plainfield,' Damon Slaton said.

'We didn't feel like in good conscience we could have sent him back there. It's too much. We felt like it was going to be difficult to get a fair shake. We felt like a change of environment was going to be a lot better moving forward.'

Ben's father says that collegiate football programs still have an interest in Ben, but admits the controversy has taken a toll on his future prospects.

'Some of those periphery schools like Purdue, Michigan State and Wake Forest have gone away,' Damon Slaton said. 'If you are No. 7 or 8 on somebody's board, it's real easy to mark Ben Slaton off the list.'

'I'm sure it will carry over, but I feel like it won't be as bad,' Ben said when asked to express his thought about moving to a new school. 'No matter where I go, I will still probably hear about it. But it will be different – a different community. I think that will help out.'