Nelson man arrested after teen girls' photos were altered and posted to adult websites

A man has been arrested after he altered stolen images of teenage girls to be sexually explicit and posted them to adult websites. Photo / 123RF

A man has been arrested after he allegedly altered stolen images of teenage girls to be sexually explicit and posted them to adult websites.

Detective Senior Sergeant Ciaran Sloan said the 56-year-old predominantly targeted teen girls from the Marlborough area.

Investigators traveled to Nelson and located the man.

"This type of crime is extremely upsetting for those affected by it and I am glad we have been able to stop this person from causing more harm," he said.

The man has been charged with causing digital harm, possession of objectionable material and child exploitation and is due to appear in the Nelson District Court on May 23.

If you have been affected by this type of behaviour, you can report it to police on 105 so it can be investigated.

Marlborough residents can give information directly to Detective Glen Lindup at the Blenheim Police Station.

NetSafe New Zealand chief technology officer Sean Lyons said sadly, the incident is not unique.

"I'd love to say this is a tragically unique thing but it's not. We get lots of reports of people using intimate images in order to harm others.

"The thing that makes this one stand out slightly is the altering of the images that somebody has taken. These were perfectly innocent pictures," he said.

Lyons said the use of young people's images is very problematic.

"It puts the images into another realm, rather than just being harmful to an individual to have an image created like this, they're creating objectionable content.

"The person in them has no control, understanding or the ability to stop those images being created."