By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Three 16-year-old boys have been arrested in Northern California on accusations that they sexually battered a 15-year-old girl who hanged herself eight days after the attack last fall. Santa Clara County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jose Cardoza says the teens were arrested Thursday, two at Saratoga High School and a third at Christopher High School in Gilroy. The victim's family attorney Robert Allard says students shared photos of the attack on cell phones.
He says the alleged victim, Audrie Pott, posted on Facebook that her life was ‘ruined’ and that she was going through her 'worst day ever' shortly before she committed suicide. In the first week of September 2012, Pott’s family attorney said Audrie found herself unconscious in a room with several boys. 'They did unimaginable things to her while she was unconscious,' Allard told NBC Bay Area. In the days after the incident, the popular teen wrote on her Facebook page: 'The whole school knows...My life is ruined.'
Then on September 12, 2012, just over a week after the alleged incident, Pott, a gifted artist and musician who attended Saratoga High School, took her own life after learning that her attackers took published photos of her assault online and distributed them to her classmates. The girl's parents, who did not find out about the alleged sexual abuse until after Audrie's suicide, want the suspected teenage attackers prosecuted as adults.
'What these boys did is beyond unconscionable,' Allard said. 'They should be held to the highest standard of the law to make sure this never ever happens again.' According to the attorney, Audrie Pott was attending a house party at a friend's house while the parents were away for the weekend in September 2012, Patch Gilroy reported.
About eight or ten high school students attended the gathering, where hard liquor mixed with Gatorade was being served to the guests. Allard said that Audrie got drunk and ended up unconscious in a bedroom, where at least three male teens performed various sexual acts on her. Someone took at least one photo of the assault on the naked girl, which was spread around via email and text before it was finally posted on Facebook.
'It went viral,' Allard told Patch. 'It was pervasively disseminated.' The trio of 16-year-olds are being held at Juvenile Hall until a detention hearing, which is expected to take place early next week. As of Thursday evening, they have not been charged with a crime.
Officials with the sheriff's office say investigators are still in the process of writing search warrants, and the probe is ongoing. Allard said Audrie's parents are seeking to sue about 10 people in connection to their death's death, among them high school students and some parents. Audrie's family are also pushing for the passage of a bill bearing the girl's name that would seek to prevent cyber-bullying, the attorney said.
Following the tragedy, tributes from friends and strangers alike poured in online remembering the beautiful high school sophomore who made everyone laugh. During a memorial at Saratoga High School held days after Pott’s suicide, hundreds of students and staff wore teal, which was the girls’ favorite color. Friends remembered her as a creative girl who was always doodling during class. Audrie was also a gifted pianist and played soccer on the school team. After the girl’s 2012 suicide, her relatives created the Audrie Pott Foundation providing Art and Music scholarships to Students in the San Francisco Bay Area.Those interested in supporting the organization can do so by going on the foundation's donations page.
