University police found that the social media posts from last week, which alleged a girl from Chapel Hill was involved in sex trafficking incidents on NC State’s campus, are false.
According to Major Ian Kendrick of University Police, the rumored sex trafficking incidents that were spread on social media last week were not true. The girl, found in Chapel Hill by University Police, was reported to be involved in sex trafficking crimes on NC State’s campus.
“None of it was true,” Kendrick said. “After we got initial information that this may be happening and we had the person’s name, we ended up going and locating her in Chapel Hill. The UNC-Chapel Hill PD came with us. We ended up talking to her and she explained what was going on.”
Kendrick said that the girl was identified as a victim of cyberbullying and that acquaintances of her were spreading the rumors that she was involved in sex trafficking.
“I think the last I heard, they were identifying her as the victim of a cyber stalking type of situation where some former friends or associates were harassing her on cyber space and allegedly spreading these rumors about her,” Kendrick said.
After issuing the girl a trespassing warning, UNC-CH police are continuing with the investigation from here.
Kendrick said that the rumored sex trafficking was not reported to University Police until the posts appeared on social media and if it had been reported previously, police would have posted updates about it on their crime log.
“But in this case, these things jumped off on social media, there was nothing that was reported directly to us until somebody brought it to our attention that the social media alleged certain things happens,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick also said that when there is an actual immediate or ongoing threat to NC State’s campus, the university will communicate that with students, faculty and staff.
“I think it’s important to understand or remember that if it’s something that has happened on NC State and it is going to be a threat to the campus or an ongoing concern for the campus, then some official communication will come out from the police department or some other official university source,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick said that University Police are not in a position to discuss why the girl was on NC State’s campus because the UNC-Chapel Hill PD are continuing to investigate the incident.
