Nebraska woman gets jail time for for posing naked at Catholic high school
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Lincoln woman must serve a 45-day jail sentence for sneaking onto the campus of the Catholic high school she once attended and posing naked for her adult website, a judge ruled Friday.
Lancaster County Judge Thomas Fox ordered Valerie Dodds to serve 30 days in jail for trespassing and 15 for public nudity. Her attorney said he has already filed notice for an appeal, and she was expected to be released Friday evening after a $75 posting bond.
Prosecutors said Dodds, 19, has shown no remorse for the late-night photo shoot at Lincoln's Pius X High School in May. Lincoln police have declined to comment on the case, saying it would only generate more publicity for her business.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Dodds posed around the school's football field. The photos were later posted on her website, where she performs under the stage name Val Midwest. Dodds has said the photo shoot was revenge against students and teachers at her former school who gave her grief when she shared her plans to go into pornography.
With good-time credit on the trespassing conviction, Dodds is expected to spend 36 days in jail if her conviction is upheld.
"She was upset. She was crying," defense attorney Chad Wythers said after the sentencing. "Based on her comments to me, I don't think she felt that the punishment fit the crime."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Wythers said the sentence was similar to what a criminal defendant would have received for second-offense drunken driving.
Dodds' business partner, Shane Harrington, said the nude photos were taken late at night to avoid any possible contact with minors. Photos taken at the school during the day show Dodds wearing pasties over her nipples and a thong, which doesn't violate state law. Dodds later boasted about the shoot on her Facebook page.
Harrington, who grew up in Lincoln but now lives in Las Vegas, has tangled with city officials before. In 2011, the Lincoln City Council denied Harrington's application for a liquor license to open a downtown bar. Former Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady testified against the application, pointing to Harrington's misdemeanor convictions in the 1990s and his ownership of a pornographic website.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They don't like me," Harrington said. "I think that they're thinking, 'We can't get to him, so we're going to go after his model.'"