ARIZONA – An Arizona prosecutor will not press criminal charges
against a Phoenix-area high school student arrested for exposing his penis in a
football team photograph published in the school’s yearbook, police said on
Wednesday.

The case against Hunter Osborn, 19, will be dropped after the
Maricopa County attorney declined to prosecute the Red Mountain High School
student, the Mesa Police Department said in a statement.

“At this time all parties involved no longer desire prosecution
and the case will be closed,” said Steve Berry, a Mesa police spokesman.

Osborn, who was 18 years old at the time, exposed his penis
through the top of the waistband of his football uniform pants during a photo
shoot for the high school football team on the school’s bleachers, according to
court records.

He told police he was acting on a dare from another football
player and said he was “disgusted by what he had done.”

Fifty-nine students, ranging in age from 15 to 19, and 10
faculty members were present, police said.

Osborn, who could not immediately be reached for comment, was
arrested on Saturday on suspicion of 69 counts of indecent exposure and one
felony count of furnishing harmful items to minors after police learned of the
offending picture from the school’s principal.

He was released on Sunday on his own recognizance.

The photo made it into all the yearbooks at the 3,400-student
school, but a school district spokeswoman said only 250 had been distributed.

The incident sparked a firestorm of criticism throughout the
community against police over the seriousness of the charges sought for what
many labeled a prank.

The case began to unravel on Wednesday, when county attorney
Bill Montgomery said the evidence was lacking to charge Osborn with a felony
count and referred a request that the youth be charged with multiple counts of
indecent exposure back to police for additional review.

It
was not immediately clear if the student would still face any disciplinary
action from the school.