Three 16-year-old boys were arrested Thursday in the sexual battery of an intoxicated and unconscious 15-year-old California high school student, who killed herself last September after photos of the assault went viral, reports the San Jose Mercury News. When digital photos showing what had happened “spread like wildfire,” the aftermath was so humiliating and torturous that Audrie Pott could no longer take it, said Robert Allard, the attorney for her family. “Poor Audrie was terrorized by cyberbullying,” Allard said.
According to Santa Clara County sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Jose Cardoza, the boys were booked into juvenile hall on two felony and one misdemeanor count each after authorities received information from school resource officers at Audrie’s school. Their names are being withheld because they are juveniles. Allard said Audrie’s parents hope they won’t be treated as juveniles in court. She killed herself on Sept. 10, eight days after the assault.