Nude Photos Exchanged by Emmaus Students Under Investigation

An Emmaus boy and girl, both students at Emmaus High School, recently electronically exchanged nude photos of themselves, according to police.

The two, a 15-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, did so between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. March 28 at the high school at 500 Macungie Ave., Emmaus, according to state police at Fogelsville. The incident is under investigation, according to a news release that did not mention charges.

Police referred to the nature of the incident as transmission of sexually explicit images. They did not state whether the exchange was made by cell phone or computer.

Police also did not say whether any school property was used to transmit the photos, only that the location of the offense was at the high school.

“As far as we are aware, this was an out of school event being handled by the police,” said East Penn Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger in a written statement released Tuesday.

On Oct. 1, 2011, a sexting scandal was reported at Emmaus High School by Patch. Emmaus police and several agencies, including the Lehigh County district attorney's office, investigated.

In that instance, several girls had willingly posed naked or in some state of undress and sent the images to their boyfriends via cellphone, the report said. At some point, some ex-boyfriends posted images on an X-rated international website. Some of the girls boasted of the occurrences while others became unwilling participants.

A mother became aware of the website and contacted the authorities, reports said.

Events brought awareness to the legal consequences and social ramifications of sexting.