Avon Superintendent of Schools: Pornographic Video Attacking Kids' Facebook Pages

The Avon Public Schools Central Office provided Patch with the following letter from Superintendent Gary Mala to the school community.

Dear Parents, Staff and Concerned Citizens,

This weekend after conferring with area colleagues, I learned of a very disturbing situation of which I would like to make you aware. The Farmington Police Department has learned that a Facebook virus in the form of a disturbing pornographic video involving a young child has been received by some FHS students on their personal Facebook accounts. Although your child may not attend FHS, other students or siblings in the area may have Facebook accounts that could be affected and we wanted to alert you of this situation immediately.

The police have learned that the virus comes in the form of a video being shared by a friend. If the video is opened, it attaches to an individual’s Facebook account and gets shared to the Facebook friends of the person who opened the message. The video is quite graphic and it will be very
disturbing. If your child has a Facebook account, please tell your son or daughter to refrain from clicking and opening any shared videos. Students should delete any shared videos upon their receipt to avoid viewing the disturbing images and downloading the virus.

The Farmington Police and the Hartford Police, who are also involved, have been in contact with the FBI.

Thank you for your immediate attention regarding this matter.

I remain very truly yours,

Gary S. Mala
Superintendent of Schools