Chicago Police said sexually explicit photos were distributed by and to students at a Catholic High School on the city’s South Side neighborhood and are investigating whether a “more serious crime may have been committed.”
Police were called to Hales Franciscan High School by school officials last Saturday and were told sexually explicit photographs of a female were distributed electronically among students.
Through conversations with students, a school official told police a more serious crime may have been committed, according to authorities.
Police did not know the name of the victim and said there has been no evidence that a crime has been committed.
“We take any allegations of this nature very seriously,” CPD said in a statement.
The President of Hales Franciscan High School Jeffrey Gray said the investigation is ongoing and is working with the police.
Gray said the school has known about the allegations for nearly a month, but said police became involved last weekend after the Department of Children and Family Services became involved.
The parents of the children involved were notified and several students were disciplined and have returned to class, Gray said. But officials will not say if the photo is of a student.
"We did not think it was a criminal act because it deals with minors," Gray said. "Parents and the students and the administration dealt with it."
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Police said they asked the school to release the name of the victim so a “proper investigation” can be conducted.
The high school had been an all-male school until this year, when it started accepting girls, but Gray said that has "nothing to do with [the incident]."
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