Officials have said that five Virginia high school students have been charged with felony counts related to cellphone-transmitted pornographic images.

The Roanoke Times reported on Thursday that several such "sexting" cases have resulted in felony charges in Rocky Mount and in Franklin County in recent months.

The Times further reported that the most recent charges stem from a female student at Franklin County High School taking a male student's phone into a bathroom to take pictures of herself.

Commonwealth Attorney Cliff Hapgood said that it's not clear what the consequences of the felony pornography charges might be but the chances of the students being convicted on the charges are as likely "as the moon coming crashing down tomorrow."

The newspaper further noted that there are no Virginia or federal laws dealing with sexting.

Saying pornography charges are too harsh, some commonwealth attorneys in the area said they tend not to file such charges for sexting. Henry County Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Bushnell said he files misdemeanor obscenity charges instead.