Woman Could Be Registered As Sex Offender For Being Topless In Front Of Stepchildren

SALT LAKE CITY (CBS Local) -- A Utah woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home.

Tilli Buchanan, 27, of West Valley City said she and her husband were installing insulation inside their garage more than a year ago when they stripped down to their underwear to get the itchy materials off their skin.

Shortly after taking her top off, Buchanan's three stepchildren, two boys, 9 and 13, and a 10-year-old girl, ran downstairs and into the garage and saw her topless.

"This isn't a sexual thing," she recalled telling the children, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. "I should be able to wear exactly what my husband wears. You shouldn't be embarrassed about this."

But West Valley City Deputy Attorney Corey Sherwin said the children's mother was "alarmed" when she learned of the incident and reported it to authorities.

Buchanan faces three counts of lewdness involving a child — a class A misdemeanor. If convicted, she could land in jail and stay on the sex offender registry for the next 10 years.

Attorneys for Buchanan argue that the law is unfair because it treats men and women differently for baring their chests. They are asking a judge to overturn her misdemeanor lewdness charges and declare that part of the law unconstitutional.

"When you look at this statute, there's a part of it that says this part of a woman is found inherently obscene. And this part of a man isn't. And that really sets up an unequal, unfair dichotomy," Leah Farrell, Buchanan's attorney, told KSL.

Judge Kara Pettit, who heard the case on Tuesday, said she plans to rule in the coming months.