WAVELAND — Waveland police say a 13-year-old girl has been arrested for using a cellphone to send out indecent pictures of another girl against her wishes.
Police Chief Dave Allen tells The Sun Herald that the teenager is charged under Mississippi’s cyber-bullying law. The felony charge that involves posting messages through electronic media for the purpose of causing injury to another person. The girl was released to her mother and the case will be handled in Hancock County Youth Court.
Allen said the girl’s mother was arrested misdemeanor charges that she allegedly knew about the situation and took no action to deal with it. The woman is charged with one count each of contributing to the delinquency of a child and contributing to the neglect of a child.
Allen says the mother has not been identified to avoid identifying her child.
An unknown person instigated the situation, Allen said, communicating with the victim, also 13, through instant messages. That person coaxed her into sending indecent pictures and then threatened to send the pictures to others if she didn’t send more pictures, he said.
The girl who was arrested reportedly found those pictures on the other girl’s cellphone and began sharing them with others even though the girl urged her not to, Allen said.
“The victim was actually victimized twice,” he said.
And the girl was then victimized again and again, every time teens who received the pictures sent them to others, Allen said.
He said the girl was nude in some of the pictures.
The incident had gone on about 2½ months before police were contacted about two weeks ago, Allen said.
Investigators analyzed the victim’s cellphone and learned someone had used a fake name to communicate with her and solicit the pictures.
Allen said police began confiscating cellphones from other teenagers to find out who else has received and sent the pictures.
