GBI tracking apparent nude pics of Gwinnett teens

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is investigating social media accounts that started distributing nude pictures of Gwinnett teenagers.

Gwinnett County school police say a parent filed a report after a 3-year-old nude photo of their daughter started circulating.

The GBI started looking into the case when a Channel 2 Action News manager learned about the stream of posts and immediately contacted investigators.

"We immediately started gathering information from those accounts as well as trying to get the photographs taken down," special agent Debbie Garner told Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh.

Posts on Twitter and Instagram are tagged with Gwinnett THOTS - short for "Those Hoes Over There."

"Twitter or Instagram can take down the photographs but that does not always mean they are off the Internet permanently," Garner said.

The victimized students appear to come from a variety of high schools in Gwinnett County, including Shiloh, Parkview, Duluth, Brookwood, Collins Hill and Peachtree Ridge.

Garner said it's possible that the girls willingly took the photos without realizing where they would end up or what would happen.

Shiloh High School students told Kavanaugh that classmates have been aware of the photos for several weeks.

The GBI is actively trying to identify the girls and determine their ages to determine what crime has been committed. If the girls are under 18, a simple retweet could constitute charges for distributing child pornography.

Channel 2 Action News looked at social media and children in depth. Watch our special report.

WSBTV