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Teen Athletes' Photos Seen On Gay Adult Web Sites

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The Associated Press

Published: January 21, 2008

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Several gay adult Web sites have posted photographs of teenage water polo players from several high schools in Southern California, a newspaper reported.

Some of the pictures, of boys as young as 14, were displayed next to photos of nude young men and graphic sexual content, an Orange County Register investigation found.

Parents, coaches and school officials were alarmed.

"These kids don't look at what they do as shameful," said Joan Gould, an international water polo official and a spokeswoman for a group of Orange County water polo parents. "For someone to come in and take what these kids are doing and take it out of context and exploit these images, these kids and their schools, because you can see the school name on the caps, is just horrible."

Police at the University of California, Irvine, confirmed that they are investigating whether a campus police dispatcher had photographed the high school athletes for gay-oriented sites.

The man had not been charged, and police Chief Paul Henisey said he remained on duty.

"We're looking into the matter," Henisey said. "We're not exactly sure about what we have or what kinds of issues there are."

It was not clear whether posting the pictures constituted an offense.

"With free speech and photography, there's a gray cloud in terms of what is legal, constitutional," said state Assemblyman Jose Solorio, chairman of the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Solorio said he would have the committee investigate the matter.

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