Ed. note: This is a breaking news story and more information will be added as it becomes available. Update July 17 12:28 p.m. timeline of events.

By JESSICA BOYER AND PERRY SMITH

Sheriff’s Department officials are investigating Twitter accounts posting naked pictures reportedly of Santa Clarita Valley high school boys and girls.

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Known as SCV_Purge, the account posted nearly two dozen photos Wednesday night, with posts including pictures with captions identifying Santa Clarita Valley high school students.

The case is being investigated by the Special Victims Bureau of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said Sgt. Brian Hudson.

“We’ve been working with Twitter to identify any inappropriate pages and to have them removed,” Hudson said. “We’re actively investigating the case.”

No suspects have been arrested at this time, he said.

Timeline of Events

One of the initial accounts, SCV Purge, was put together Wednesday, and then taken down after Twitter was notified of the content. Another Twitter handle “@SCVpurge1,” was quickly put up in its place and Twitter took away the accounts posting rights.

The final Twitter handle @Scv_Purge1 was set up around 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The Twitter handle posted dozens of nude photographs along with captions that claimed to identify Santa Clarita high school students. The anonymous poster also published tweets including explicit actions that the named teens had allegedly done. 

The posting continued to escalte until 9:21 p.m. when the owner of the account tweeted “Stay tuned till 12am tonight for what you all have been waiting for…. THE BIG PURGE.” and minutes later began threatening to reveal the people who had shared the explicit content with the Twttier account.

Around 10:11 p.m. the Twitter account @Scv_Purge1 went from private to public and posted all of the Twitter handles of people who “exposed” the teens.  The account also published several more nude photographs and explicit actions allegedly done by the named teens.

The account was shut down by Twitter between 10:50 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.

“I heard about it (Wednesday) actually by friends,” said a Saugus High School student who asked to remain anonymous. “They told me about it and they told me that it’s kind of discriminating to teenage girls and embarrassing that they were trusting people with pictures. It’s not OK to post those pictures but it’s not OK to take those pictures and it’s not OK to send them to people. Even if you trust them, you never know.”  

The title “SCV Purge” was apparently inspired by a 2013 movie called “The Purge,” in which “A wealthy family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized,” according to IMDB. “The Purge: Anarchy,” a sequel, comes out Thursday.

 After being up for about five hours Wednesday night, the second page, @SCVPurge1 had more than 1,300 followers and about 21 photos.  The page reached more than 2,400 followers over the course of the day.

One of the postings said: “Everyone remember! We are not the bad ones its thosewho are (sending us direct messages) and sending in your nudes that are bad So think twice of who u (sic) trust.”

Sheriff’s Department officials had much of the activity suspended or removed as of this morning.

No other information is being released by officials at this time.

The SCV Youth Project posted a message on its website last night seeking to warn parents and teens about the illegal activity.

The following message was sent out to the Santa Clarita Valley from HelpNotHassle.org, a group that provides counseling and other services for Santa Clarita Valley teens and families:

“Teenagers that do not fully comprehend the legal ramifications of sending sexually explicit text messages are finding themselves labeled as convicted sex offenders for the rest of their lives. “

We got wind tonight, of a new twitter account:  SCV_purge1 – that is collecting nude pictures of teens and posting them for all of their followers.  These pictures may be sent directly to the owner of the account or in some cases, ex boyfriends/girlfriends are forwarding as a form of retaliation or revenge.  Regardless of the motive, it’s happening right now … as we speak.  They are up to over 2,000 followers, and they just opened the account today.

The owner of the account is threatening to provide a full list of names of all of the teens being victimized on this twitter feed.  The account is protected, so access is limited.  We have alerted LAPD and Twitter.  We are trying to shut it down but another will pop up, if we don’t do more on our end to educate our kids and our community.

We cannot stress enough how dangerous the internet and social media can be … and how risky it is to engage in any type of “sexting” – not to mention, it is against the law.

We can’t be afraid to have a conversation with our kids about protecting their bodies … having self respect ….the risks of sexting … making good choices … over sharing … and advocating for online safety.

Laws Pertaining to Sexting in the State of California

Currently, under California law individuals, regardless of age, who produce, distribute or possess an image of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct are committing a felony. If convicted under the child pornography statutes then an individual could receive up to 6 years in jail and will generally be required to register as a sex offender.

Law and Punishment

In general, the California child pornography statutes provide that:

• If any person distributes or possesses any obscene matter knowing that the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 years personally engaging in or personally simulating sexual conduct
  • For commercial purposes is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 6 years, or by a fine not exceeding $100,000.
  • For commercial purposes is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 6 years, or by a fine not exceeding $100,000.
  • For exchanging with another person above the age of 18, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for up to 1 year, or by a fine not exceeding $2,000.
  • For exchanging with another person under the age of 18, is guilty of a felony.
• A person is guilty of sexual exploitation of a child if he or she knowingly develops, duplicates, prints, or exchanges image that depicts a person under the age of 18 years engaged in an act of sexual conduct shall be punished by a fine of not more than $2,000 or by imprisonment in jail for up to 1 year, or by both.
• If any person produces an image of a minor engaged in sexual acts for commercial purposes is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment for up to 6 years, or by a fine not exceeding $100,000.
• If a person produces an image of a minor engaged in sexual conduct, he or she is guilty of a felony.
• If found convicted under the child pornography statute a person will generally be required to register as a sex offender.

– See more at: http://www.helpnothassle.org/2014/07/16/warning-to-parents-and-teens/#sthash.cCRhCkQR.dpuf

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

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