3 teens held in sex assault of girl who killed herself

Three teenage boys were arrested Thursday in Santa Clara County on suspicion that they sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl who committed suicide eight days after she was attacked last fall.

The boys, all 16, were taken into custody at two different high schools and booked into juvenile hall in connection with the attack on Audrie Pott, who hanged herself, authorites told Northern California media organizations.

Robert Allard, an attorney who represents the victim’s family, said students shared photos of the attack on their cellphones. Pott posted on her Facebook page that her life was “ruined” and that she was enduring the “worst day ever” shortly before she took her life, Allard said.

The family created a foundation in Audrie’s memory to support youths by awarding scholarships.

“She was compassionate about life, her friends, her family and would never do anything to harm anyone. She was in the process of developing the ability to cope with the cruelty of this world but had not quite figured it all out,” a statement on the foundation’s website says. “It would have been her wish that we could all learn from her unfortunate and tragic passing that somehow through the lessons learned that this tragedy could provide an impetus for change.”

Two of the boys attended Saratoga High School and the other attended Christopher High School in Gilroy. Audrie was a sophomore at Saratoga High. Saratoga is about 45 miles south of San Francisco.

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latimes.com