Cobb County police have started an investigation into the posting of explicit photos of area high schoolers.
Earlier this week it was revealed that the GBI was looking into online postings of nude pictures taken of girls who attend several Gwinnett County high schools.
The two cases aren’t connected, Cobb police spokesman Dana Pierce said, but there are similarities.
In both cases, the photos first appeared on Instagram accounts that have since been taken down. Instagram is a photo sharing site popular with teens.
The photos appear to have been taken consensually but were not intended for public distribution, authorities said.
No arrests have been made in either case.
It’s unclear how many students were victimized in the Cobb incident.
Smyrna police asked the Cobb crimes against children unit to assist in their investigation. Pierce said officers conducted several interviews with possible victims Wednesday.
Posting the pictures could result in a 20-year prison sentence because the subjects are assumed to be under 18. People who forwarded or retweeted the pictures — whether minors or adults — also could face child pornography distribution charges.
“Once someone sends it to someone else, a crime has been committed,” GBI spokeswoman Sherry Lang said in connection with the Gwinnett investigation.
Earlier this year, a Cobb high school student was charged with eight felonies, including cruelty to children and distributing child pornography, after he allegedly lifted photos off classmates’ social media pages. Michael Cook, now 18, remains in the Cobb jail awaiting trial.
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