Local photo showing alleged child abuse goes viral

TRENTON, Tenn. — An image of a young girl lying on a bed with her hands and feet bound with duct tape was posted to Facebook Valentine’s night.

“Different people were seeing it on Facebook, sharing it. It got back around to me,” Gibson County Sheriff Paul Thomas said.

The graphic photo, in which we’ve blocked the young girl’s face to protect her identity, also shows her with her mouth taped shut. It was shared thousands of times by people who saw it on their feeds.

“I just think that it’s awful that things like that go on and that someone would post it to Facebook,” Trenton resident Dustin Mitchell said.

With the help of the Department of Children’s Services, the sheriff said his office was able to locate the teen who is believed to have posted the photo online.

“They shouldn’t do something like that,” Mitchell said. “I was kind of shocked by it, so I’m still trying to get my mind around it.”

“I’ve been in the business long enough that nothing surprises me anymore when you see things nowadays,” Sheriff Thomas said. “I don’t know what his excuse was for doing it.”

The sheriff did not comment on the relationship between the girl and the juvenile suspected of taping her up or where the alleged crime took place. But he did say the boy is now in the custody of his mother.

The sheriff says he’s thankful to everyone who saw the picture and made sure his department was made aware.

“I just want everybody to know we appreciate that because had we not known — we needed to know,” Sheriff Thomas said. “But we are aware of it now, and we are on top of it. Charges can be expected to be filed in the near future.”