A Titusville teacher’s aide was arrested Friday and charged with exchanging sexually graphic messages with a 16-year-old special needs student, according to police records.

Police reports show that although the incident was reported to the school around Jan. 16, schools officials did not report it to police. An investigation did not begin until a parent later notified police.

The sexting is alleged to have taken place over several months since October of last year.

Lindsey Thorson, 27, of Titusville was charged with transmission of materials harmful to minors and tampering with evidence and Friday was booked into the the Brevard County Jail.

The teacher's aide at Fieldston Preparatory School on Columbia Boulevard has since been released on $4,000 bond.

Fieldston Preparatory School is a private school that focuses on students with special needs in grades K-12.

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The investigation began last month after the student's friend ran away from home, fearing he would get in trouble at school for telling on Thorson, police officials said. The student had shared screenshots of the exchanges with him.

He told school officials about the photos of the messages exchanged between Thorson and the student on Instagram. Thorson is accused of sending the student multiple sexually explicit videos and photos of herself, police said.

A parent of the student's friend told police about the message.

During interviews with police, Fieldston Preparatory School Principal Cindy Colletti "appeared to dismiss the allegations," according to investigative reports from the Titusville Police Department.

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“This case provides an important reminder that school officials, by law, are mandatory reporters of suspected abuse, regardless of whether they believe the allegations or not,” said lead Detective Jessica Cabrera in a prepared statement.

Contact Vazquez at tvazquez@floridatoday.com, 321-917-7491 or on Twitter @tyler_vazquez. Support his work by subscribing to FloridaToday.com.