GOBLES, Mich. (WWJ) – Police in West Michigan are investigating after three teenagers pretended to be a 35-year-old woman on an online dating app and then tried to blackmail a teacher after he sent explicit pictures and videos to the fake profile.
Officials with the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office say the students, all between the ages of 14 and 15, used photos from the internet to create the fake profile and then interacted with a teacher from Gobles, according to WOOD TV. Gobles is about 20 miles northwest of Kalamazoo.
Eventually the teacher, whose name is not being released, sent sexually explicit images to the profile run by the students, who attend a different school, according to WOOD TV.
It was not clear which school the students attend, but authorities say investigators discovered two of the students knew the teacher because he was their driver’s training instructor.
The students then tried to blackmail the teacher and threatened to send the images to other students, according to police.
The students eventually did send the images to other students, including students at Gobles.
The situation went on for about a week, according to the report from WOOD TV, before the district got word of the images and contacted the sheriff’s office on Monday night.
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Police say the teacher is not accused of any wrongdoing. He believed he was interacting with a consenting adult and didn’t know teens were behind the profile until police got involved.
The motive for the students allegedly blackmailing the teacher is unclear, but police officials say the teens and their families are cooperating with the investigation.
