FSU student turning nightmare into activism

A year ago, Carly Hellstrom's life was turned upside down and exposed for the world to see.

Nude photos of her were circulating around the Internet, being viewed by her fellow classmates at Florida State University and people around the globe. For about a year, whenever you searched her name, you saw nude photos of her she had taken with a boyfriend years earlier.

"I couldn't breathe for a little while," said Hellstrom on Monday, remembering the first time she learned of the photos.

"I'm a very bright girl, but I made a very stupid mistake," she said. "I never thought that it would spiral down like this and go viral like it did."

Hellstrom, 22, now finds herself an activist lobbying the Florida Legislature for criminal penalties for revenge porn, posting online nude or sexually explicit photos that were originally meant to be kept between two people. The laws aren't on the books, but Hellstrom's personal "nightmare" has given her the energy to make sure laws are enacted one day.

Last Wednesday she testified at the House Justice Appropriations Subcommittee on behalf of Rep. Tom Goodson's HB 151, which would make Florida the 16th state to criminalize posting nude photos of another person on the Internet without their consent.

"It ruins people's lives," a teary-eyed Hellstrom told subcommittee members. "They do it with the intent to hurt somebody, and he did it with the intent to hurt me and ruin my life."

Hellstrom's journey started about four years ago when she entered college at the age of 18. She liked the idea of dating an older guy and began seeing a sophomore. After about a month, Hellstrom called it quits but not before he took the nude photos of her, court documents said.

"When you're intimate with someone and you're sharing that," she said. "You have a lapse of judgment and you trust them and that's the mistake."

Three years later, he walked into the Adams Street bar Clyde's and Costello's, where Hellstrom works. He paid for his drinks but accused her of overcharging him and losing his credit card, she said.

Two days later, on April 16, 2014, the nude photos began popping up on FSU-centered Facebook pages and a national website called thedirty.com, where it received more than 100,000 views. The photos included Hellstrom's name, school and sorority.

Hellstrom did not mention her boyfriend by name, but court documents say Dylan Foody, 23, was arrested in connection with the case.

Court documents say a member of a group called Scalphunters, where some of the photos were posted, asked Foody to take the photos down. Foody said in a Facebook message said he would remove the posts but had "more, worse photos of Hellstrom."

Hellstrom found out two days later and called the Florida State University Police Department, which informed her there was no law against it. She said it was the worst day of her life.

For the next several months, she gathered information on the posts.

She filed a complaint against him with FSU, claiming he violated the Student Code of Conduct. In a university hearing held in July, Foody admitted he posted the nude photographs, court documents said.

Three months later, on Oct. 14, Foody was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of stalking.

The State Attorney's Office agreed to drop the charges if Foody, 23, made a statement under oath that he had no other photographs of Hellstrom. He also had to prove that the photos were no longer on the Internet. He did so, and the charges were dropped on Wednesday, the same day Hellstrom testified.

Hellstrom said she agreed to the deal since she wanted the photos off the Internet.

"My future was worth more than him being punished with a misdemeanor," she said.

Hellstrom, a senior set to graduate in May with a degree in media/communications, is now setting out to make sure there is a law on the books to help people like her.

Goodson's law would make revenge porn a misdemeanor on the first offense, and a felony for subsequent violations.

Jennifer Dritt, the executive director of the Florida Council Against Sexual Violence, said she likes the progressive discipline, saying it allows a pass for those who make mistakes.

Hellstrom disagrees, saying a first offense should be a felony.

"The first time they do it is a mistake," she said. "But the first time is what ruins our life."

Goodson, a Titusville Republican, said it's unknown how pervasive the crime is since it is not on the books.

"We don't know how widespread it is because sheriffs at your local level they will tell the person, 'there's no law to protect you,'" he said. "So they don't keep a count."

Dritt says instances of revenge porn happen every day, particularly on college campuses.

"Young men do it to young women, young women do it to young men," she said. "They need law enforcement to have the capacity to do something now."

Hellstrom says she has talked with numerous students who say they've been victims of revenge porn.

"There is no excuse for anyone ever ever ever ever to do something like this," said Rep. Ross Spano, R-Riverview. "And it kind of appalls me that it seems as pervasive as it is."

Goodson hopes the law can be a teaching moment for young people sending nude photos.

"People will maybe understand you might not wish to do these things," he said. "But love does make you kind of strange."

The bill passed unanimously and has one more committee stop before going to the full House. Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, introduced a similar bill that would make posting nude photos without consent a second-degree misdemeanor. That bill SB 538, was unanimously approved by the Senate Criminal Justice Committee on Monday.

Hellstrom is now considering engaging in full-time activism when she graduates. On Monday, she told her story to an FSU public speaking class of about 200 students

"It's such a humiliating thing that people don't want to talk about it. It took me a year to talk about it," she said. "I've accepted it and I think that me speaking out will help a lot of people."