Warrant: Apex teen sent nude photo via social media app
APEX, N.C. (WTVD) -- A graphic warning to parents after an Apex Police investigation demonstrates that a popular social media app doesn't guarantee the safety of teenagers.
A search warrant made public Friday explains how an Apex teenager used a program called Snapchat to send a nude picture to a teenage boy.
Snapchat is popular with teens because you can set the program to delete texts and pictures within seconds after they are sent.
But police say the boy she sent it to quickly used a technique called a screen grab to copy the picture before it was automatically deleted.
"Even though you've got it set up where it's only going to last on someone's screen a second or two, it only takes a second to copy that image," Apex Police Captain Ann Stephens told ABC11.
Stephens says no charges have been filed in the case because the boy did not send the picture to anyone else.
But in many cases charges are being filed - even in juvenile court.
So sending such pictures can affect the lives of young people forever.
Stephens says there is only one guarantee when it comes to nude pictures in cyberspace.
"The only way to ensure it never gets out there is to never do it."
