Teen faces child porn charges for Instagram posts

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KTVU) - A 17 -year-old student in the South Bay is facing child pornography charges after authorities said he posted and shared inappropriate pictures of his underage female classmates on Instagram.

The student went to Lincoln High School Lincoln High School in San Jose.

The principal thanked students over the loud speaker on Tuesday for their help after San Jose Police identified a 17 year old who they say started an Instagram account full of inappropriate photos of his fellow underage female classmates.

"It's actually kind of terrifying to think about. Because a lot of different people have shown up on the web site apparently," said Lincoln High School junior Jacob Riggan.

The San Jose Unified School District nor police would go into detail about the account other than to say school administrators found out about it on Monday and immediately notified police. One senior at Lincoln High School said some of her friends were victims.

"I thought it was really childish for the fact that you are posting that and you are depriving someone of their privacy," said Lincoln High senior Paula Reyes. "Some of the pictures were super old and they just resurfaced out of nowhere."

She said the Instagram account had photos that may have been taken at parties outside of school. She said the girls had no idea their photos would be shared online.

"A lot of girls have left school crying because of their nude pictures up on Instagram," said Reyes.

It wasn't just nude photos. Students said random pictures taken from social media accounts were also posted with derogatory remarks about girls. The school district placed calls to parents and a letter was sent home urging parents to talk to their children.

"It's important for parents to really think about those posts and think about how they can easily spread," said Jorge Quintana of the San Jose Unified School District. "Social media obviously doesn't know boundaries."

"What I'm going to do is get into my daughter's account and make sure of what she's posting," said parent Elisa Gomez.

The Instagram account has been taken down. Authorities are looking into reports students at other schools may also be victims.