Social Media Users Could Face Charges For Sharing Rape Video
PUEBLO, Colo. (CBS4) - Approximately 100 people who shared or downloaded a graphic video on social media Thursday night could face charges of distributing child pornography.
The video, which was extremely graphic, showed a juvenile female being sexually assaulted. It has since been removed.
"Our police department's Facebook was inundated with messages about a video that was being circulated around the internet and it was basically about a sexual assault that happened in Pueblo," Sgt. Eric Gonzales with the Pueblo Police Department told CBS4 partner KKTV.
The Pueblo Police Department learned of the video at 8 p.m. and immediately began to investigate.
By 2:15 a.m., two juvenile males had been arrested. They face several charges including sexual assault and sexual exploitation of children.
"I think they got the individuals that were involved with the video," Gonzales said, "So at this point we are looking at individuals who were possibly sharing that video or are in possession of it."
Police say the video had been shared more than 100 times.
Those people who shared the video with the Pueblo Police Department will not be prosecuted, according to Gonzales, because they were reporting the video to authorities. Their intent was not to share the video publicly.
"Individuals who posted it on their Facebook as their own so that other individuals could see it, those ones are going to be looked at," said Gonzales.
Detectives with the Pueblo PD's Special Victims Unit and Narcotics Unit, as well as the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, were all involved in the investigation.