By
Jennifer Madison
Last updated at 11:17 PM on 18th March 2011
A ‘smut list’ that labelled high school students sluts across wealthy communities in New York and Connecticut has sparked local police investigations after going viral.
School officials in Westchester, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut are working with authorities to track who is responsible for creating and distributing the list of over 100 females and males as young as 14.
According to several reports, the smut list began as a mass Blackberry Messenger forward that was posted as a Facebook group on Monday and gained 7,000 ‘likes’ overnight.
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Outrage: Angela Viccaro’s 15-year-old daughter was among teenagers named on a smut list at Harrison High School in Westchester County, New York
The Facebook page, entitled Westchester SMUT List, reportedly included 100 girls from at least seven school districts and ranked the teenagers according to their alleged sexual encounters.
It reportedly included first and last names and eliminated the mention of males.
The word ‘smut’ was likely used instead of ‘slut’ to skirt Facebook rules.
The Facebook group has since been removed.
Eighteen-year-old Sergio Siano of Yonkers, New York claimed he was responsible for posting the list to the social networking website in an interview with local news website RyePatch.
Viral: The list reportedly included over 100 names posted to a Facebook group that gained 7,000 ‘likes’ overnight
But, Mr Siano denied creating the original list.
He said he posted the names online following several requests from friends.
‘I
didn’t make the list. I made a Facebook page with the list on it
because people kept asking me to message them the list and I got tired
of it. If anyone is mad at me because of this, then be angry because I’m
not apologizing,’ he told RyePatch.
Students from Harrison High School in Westchester County were among those named on the list.
Investigation: Harrison High School Principal Dr. James Ruck is working with local police to identify those responsible and determine their punishment
That included Angela Viccaro’s 15-year-old daughter, a freshman.
Ms Viccaro told Fox News: ‘Something has to be done.’
Principal Dr. James Ruck said the school has a zero-tolerance policy for cyberbulling.
He
said the school district is working with a lawyer to identify those
connected with creating, distributing and posting the list and determine
how they will be punished.
Confession: An 18-year-old from Yonkers claimed he posted the list on Facebook but denied creating the original list that circulated via Blackberry Messenger
He told My Fox New York: ‘For any
youngster that was involved in doing it, you deserve the consequences
that are coming to you. I can tell you, if it is someone in this school,
we will press it to the fullest extent.’
Officials at Greenwich
High School have also turned investigations over to district police
after several of its students were named.
Police told Fox News 8 there was a disagreement between groups of students over the list on March 15. No violence was reported.
A mother of a female student at the school whose name was mentioned said she was outraged by the cyberbullying campaign.
High school bullies: The smut list included names across seven school districts, where students are subject to taunts despite the list’s removal from Facebook
The
woman, who asked not to be identified, told local News 8: ‘It’s because
of this gossiping, Facebook, and how easy accessible, we’d use to write
notes, curl them up, and get in trouble if a teacher saw a note, but
now, it’s like they do this, whatever it’s called, broadcasting, and it
goes to everyone, and it says, do you want to add anyone to the smut
list.’
Amanda Mickatavage, who graduated from Port Chester High School in Westchester last year, said her own name was included in a list of 50 she received in a Blackberry message.
She told RyePatch: ‘The
one sent to Port Chester also had descriptions as to why they were
smuts. The things that were listed were completely false.
‘I don’t think its right, that it started on BBM (Blackberry
Messenger) is horrible enough. If you’re not part of solution, you’re
clearly part of problem. It makes the situation so much worse.’
Miss Mickatavage said several female students still enrolled in school are being bullied as a result of the list.
Outrage Over High School ‘Smut List’: MyFoxNY.com
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