Ex-Cheerleader Talks About Town's Teen Porn Scandal

The town of Emmaus, Pa. continues to buzz over a teen sexting-porn scandal revealed when parents complained to police several days ago.

As officials investigate, one young woman talks about what it's like having photos of her on an X-rated website where users can search for porn under categories like "college bitches" and "drunk/passed out."

T. and a girlfriend posed in their underwear in front of a mirror because they thought they looked "cute," she told Patch. That was in 2008 when she was a sophomore at (EHS) and she sent the photo to her then boyfriend.

Looking back, the former high school cheerleader said, “I never thought, ‘They’ll think it’s sexy. And then post it online.’

“I’m in a bra and underwear, so I was comfortable and not worried about anything when I took it,” T. said. “When you thought you could trust someone, it just sucks. A lot of the girls are saying ‘you deserve it, you did it to yourself.’

“All girls have to admit they’ve done something similar at some point,” T. added. “At first I was really upset. My current boyfriend told me to calm down because it’s not that big of a deal. I’ve been in a bathing suit. So, I was really upset and then I was over it.”

T. said students have known about the website for years.

"I knew about it my freshman year. It was never a big deal…I found out about it through boys from other schools like Northampton," she said.

Emmaus Police and the following complaints from parents. Several students told Patch that problems began when on the raunchy site. But while some girls are embarrassed and didn't show up for school on Monday, others are bragging.

T. said, “Some of them (the other girls) are OK with it because some of them are just whores. Some of them deserve that. Other girls that are like me, they sent pictures to a boyfriend. You don’t think about something like that when you send pictures to someone you love. “

Officials say most teens and what a dangerous and unforgiving place cyberspace actually is. T. agreed: “Girls have to know they’re gonna be out there no matter what if you take the pictures.”

T. said the website in question has been taken down many times. She says that after she learned about it during her freshman year, she would periodically check the site to make sure that no pictures of her or her friends were on it.

She learned from friends about a month ago that her photos were back online. “I didn’t think that many girls from EHS would be posted after mine (were posted). I kept hearing people talking about it and saw it on Facebook,” T. says.

T. has also been in contact with another 2011 grad whose pictures appear on the site.

Her friend, C., who is working toward her teaching degree at a Pennsylvania college, sent T. a text message yesterday related to the photos. T. said her friend is concerned about how the pictures may affect her teaching career.

“She’s really worried,” T. said.

The question for T. is how current photos of her got to the site. She admits to texting her underwear picture to two other boys about three years ago. But she emailed at least one of the other photos (showing her wearing her current boyfriend’s T-shirt) directly to him and he said he did not share the photo with anyone.

T. believes that somehow her email account or computer was hacked.

Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said Tuesday that this investigation will take time, but it does not appear any wrongdoing took place on school property.