SANTA ANA, Calif. — A California newspaper is reporting that several gay adult Web sites have posted photographs of teenage water polo players from several high schools in Southern California.

An Orange County Register investigation has found that some of the pictures, of boys as young as 14, were displayed next to photos of nude young men and graphic sexual content.

An international water polo official and a spokeswoman for a group of Orange County water polo parents says it’s “just horrible” for someone to “take what these kids are doing and take it out of context and exploit these images.”

Police at the University of California, Irvine, say they are investigating whether a campus police dispatcher had photographed the high school athletes for gay-oriented sites.

The man has not been charged.