Police caution 13yo girl over sex pictures on MySpace

A 13-year-old girl has been cautioned by police after sexually explicit pictures of another 13-year-old girl were posted on social networking site MySpace without her knowledge.

A 17-year-old boy could also face charges over the incident, say Victorian police, who called in the FBI in the United States to help with the investigation.

The case began two months ago when one of the 13-year-old girls sent sexually explicit pictures of herself to her 17-year-old boyfriend at that time, said police based at Bacchus March, west of Melbourne.

The images later came into the possession of a second 13-year-old girl, who then created a false MySpace account using the first girl's identity and posted the explicit images.

After receiving a complaint, police began an investigation in conjunction with the FBI and Australian Federal Police, who helped obtain computer-based evidence and close the MySpace site.

Detective Sergeant Tony Coxall said the investigation was a timely reminder to all parents to monitor their children's use of computers and the internet.

"Cyber bullying can be very traumatic and upsetting for the victim and there can be instances where the perpetrator doesn't know that they are actually breaking the law," he said.

"Any explicit images can constitute serious criminal offences and are investigated accordingly."

Det Sgt Coxall said images posted on the internet could be hard to erase and could become a record for many years to come.

"Children should be very careful when creating personalised accounts or posting images of themselves or others," he said.

Det Sgt Coxall said the 13-year-old who created the false MySpace account had been cautioned, while the boy could be charged on summons for related offences.