High School rocked by 'massive sexting ring'

Police said more than 100 students had been trading naked picture and posting them on social media

Police said more than 100 students had been trading naked picture and posting them on social media

A school district in Colorado is in shock after police revealed that more than 100 students had been trading naked picture and posting them on social media as part of a large “sexting ring”.

US media said some of the children in the images were as young as 12 and that the pupils used ‘secret’ mobile apps to hide things from parents. Police and prosecutors are now discussing whether or not to bring child sexual abuse charges against some of those accused of involvement in the behaviour at Canon City High School. No charges have been brought yet.

The New York Times reported that members of the school’s American Football team, the Cañon City Tigers, were accused of being at the centre of the sexting ring.

On Thursday night, separate community meetings were held for parents of the sports players and parents of other students to address the scandal, which has shocked the town. The team was forced to forfeit its final game of the season.

George Welsh, the superintendent of the Cañon City school system, said students at Cañon City High School had been circulating 300 to 400 nude photographs, including images of “certainly over 100 different kids,” on their cellphones.

“This is a lot of kids involved,” he said, adding that the children in the pictures were believed to be students at the high school as well as some from the middle school.

The school district announced on Wednesday that “a number of our students have engaged in behaviour where they take and pass along pictures of themselves that expose private parts of their bodies or their undergarments.”

Noting that a “large number” of the high school football team players were implicated in the scandal, the district said it was canceling the high school’s last football game of the season.

“Because we can’t guarantee that every kid we put out on the field would be clean of this circumstance, we would just rather not put a team out at all,” Mr Welsh added.

Noting it first learned of the actions on Monday based on anonymous tips and student reports, the district stressed that taking a picture of yourself showing a naked private body part and sending it to another person was a serious crime.

The same applies if receiving such a picture and forwarding it to another person, or receiving such a picture and retaining possession of it over time.

Students used password-protected “phone vaults,” apps that often appear to be simple calculators at first glance, to hide the photos from their parents and school officials.

“It’s been going on for years,” one Canon City student told KRDO13.

Even if the sexts were consensual, students could face child sex abuse charges and sex offender status under Colorado law. Formal charges will be determined by the Fremont County District Attorney's Office.

"The mere possession of these materials does constitute an ongoing crime," said Fremont County District Attorney Tom LeDoux.