North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley says the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating child sex abuse images, or CSAM, being shared by students at Davies High School in Fargo.
"This investigation began with a report of a student creating and then sharing child sexual abuse material, which we refer to as CSAM, and then sharing that on social media."
Wrigley says back in April of this year, a school resource officer first became aware of CSAM created of a student now attending middle school in West Fargo being shared by a high school student at Davies High School. The image is believed to be two years old, and manipulated with artificial intelligence. That student shared the material on the social media app Snapchat.
Wrigley says West Fargo Police brought in BCI, who began cooperating with Snapchat to investigate the incident. He says in the months since, a larger scale investigation has unfolded.
"In the months after that, Snapchat was compiling the materials that were requested under official request mechanisms by the BCI, and by late August of 2025, they presented the BCI with what could only be called a web of Snapchat accounts, of individuals who had been receiving, in some cases not sharing, in other instances then sharing and broadcasting out to other people, these child sexual abuse materials."
Wrigley says a significant number of victims have been identified, and 50 phones have been seized as part of the investigation. He says as a result of the images created and being shared, students have been harassed, intimidated and some have even changed schools and received counseling.
Wrigley says many students involved are juveniles, but some are 18 and considered legal adults. He says all parents have been cooperative with the investigation. No arrests have been made yet.
The BCI, Fargo and West Fargo Police and the Cass County Sheriff’s Office are working on the investigation. Wrigley says the case will be forwarded to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office, but may elevate to the federal level.