FOUR teenagers have been arrested and three others questioned by police after sexually explicit photographs of three western suburbs schoolgirls were shared.
Police identified three cases of ‘‘sexting’’ at western suburbs schools, with the first incident involving a 12-month-old explicit photograph of a 16-year-old girl.
Two 14-year-old girls had explicit photographs of themselves, taken a few months ago, shared with other teenagers via social media. Police have arrested three 17-year-old boys and a girl, 16, over the first incident.
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Two of the teenagers in the first incident are students at the victim’s school, while the other two are former students.
Wyndham’s Detective Senior Constable Steve Oakley said the teens were questioned for ‘‘knowingly communicating a private activity’’.
He said the victim had believed the photograph no longer existed. Her school alerted police to the incident. While investigating the first case, police discovered that photographs of the two 14-year-old girls had also been distributed.
Senior Detective Oakley said a teenage boy had been spoken to in relation to the second incident, while two teenage boys had been questioned over a third case.
He said further arrests were likely. All of the victims have returned to school. Senior Detective Oakley said the cases were of concern because the trust of three young girls had been broken.
“There is a behaviour between the teenagers that they exchange explicit images of themselves and as a result there is a bit of trust between both parties and obviously that trust has been broken,” he said.
“From the victim’s point of view, once they release that photo they have no control of where it goes.”
