A 17-year-old boy who allegedly took upskirt videos of female students at Union High School is now also accused of hacking into numerous social media accounts and sharing nude photos.
Vancouver police began investigating Sept. 18 after a female student told the school resource officer that someone hacked into her social media account, accessed nude photos that were kept in a private section of the account and then distributed the photos to other students.
The investigation led to the arrest of Zachary Bridgeforth that same month. Police served a search warrant on his cellphone and found 16 upskirt videos. The videos were shot between May 6, 2016, and Sept. 14, 2017, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Clark County Juvenile Court.
Bridgeforth, who is also a student, is seen in at least four of the videos as the one filming, the affidavit said.
All of the videos were shot at Union High School in classrooms, hallways, stairways, a building commons area and courtyard during class time, passing periods or lunch. In all of the videos, the female students do not appear to be aware that the filming is occurring, the court document states.
As the investigation continued, police found that between June 14 and Oct. 11, 2017, multiple internet protocol addresses traced to Bridgeforth’s residence and cellphone logged into the social media accounts of at least 11 female students, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the latest case.
And while in possession of eight accounts, he pretended to be those female students and contacted their friends in an effort to obtain additional social media accounts by asking for passwords. He was successful in getting a number of accounts, the affidavit states.
Bridgeforth also created a fake Snapchat account and two fake Instagram accounts, using the names of real people, court records said.
Between June 14 and Sept. 12, while in possession of the fraudulently obtained social media accounts, Bridgeforth tried to obtain passwords to a private location on the female students’ Snapchat accounts. He told them that he wouldn’t return their accounts unless they gave him their passwords or sent compromising photos. He told one female student that he would “send her pictures to the world” if she didn’t meet his demands, according to court documents.
On Sept. 12, a female student was talking to one of Bridgeforth’s fake Snapchat accounts when he asked her to send a compromising photo. He then sent her a compromising photo of herself and another female student, the affidavit states.
Investigators learned that numerous photos were being shared in a group chat with other male students. A number of the girls in the compromising photos were minors at the time, court records said.
Members of the group chats said that Bridgeforth created the groups and was the one primarily posting photos, according to court documents.
Bridgeforth is facing four counts of first-degree computer trespass, four counts of first-degree criminal impersonation, one count of second-degree extortion and one count each of second-degree possessing and dealing in depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, court records show.
In the upskirt images case, he is charged with 15 counts of voyeurism.
A “decline” hearing to determine whether juvenile court should decline to prosecute and send the case to Superior Court is set for Jan. 24, just days before Bridgeforth’s 18th birthday.
Bridgeforth is barred from having contact with Union High School.
