Audrie Pott Saratoga Death Has New Suspect; Classmate Blamed in California Teen’s Suicide

Audrie Pott, Saratoga, Calif., committed suicide after she was bullied in the aftermath of a sexual assault. A new classmate has been blamed for driving Audrie Pott to suicide. The fifteen-year-old girl hanged herself after she was photographed at a party on Sept. 2 last year after she passed out and allegedly was sexually assaulted. Classmates sent the pictures of the assault around the internet and drove Audrie Pott into a suicidal depression.

A third person has been named in connection with the death of Audrie Pott. Audrie Pott's family recently added a 15-year-old girl, identified only as Jane C., because she is a minor, to the lawsuit they filed in Apri in the death of Audrie Pott. Jane C. joins the three boys and the adult couple who owned the home that Audrie Pott said the assault took place.

Audrie Pott who hanged herself in September after saying she was sexually assaulted by three boys she had known for years who then put pictures up on the internet and harassed her online when she passed out at a party from drinking at a friend's house in Northern California. According to authorities, Audrie Pott said the boys took off her clothes and assaulted her, the boys wrote and drew on her naked body while capturing the whole thing on their cellphones.

Audrie Pott confronted by boys on social media, writing "I have a reputation for a night I don't even remember and the whole school knows." In another Facebook message she wrote, "I cried when I found out what they did."

Audrie Pott’s family attorney, Robert Allard brought a suit seeking unspecified damages against the boys and the owners of the home where the assault took place. The lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court alleged battery, defamation, wrongful death and other claims.

According to the amended lawsuit, Jane C. was added in June. The Pott family alleges that the teenage girl was present in the room during the assault. The family claims the 15-year old encouraged the boys "to expose and/or photograph and/or draw on Audrie's body." According to the amended lawsuit, after the assault and photographic documentation, Jane C. buttoned and zipped Audrie Pott's shorts. It says that she covered Audrie Pott with a blanket and left her where she was. The suit claims that the new suspect lied about her involvement to cover up the incident.

Because of their ages, the boys who were charged were only identified by their first names and the first initial of their last name. The face charges of sexual battery and dissemination and possession of child pornography.

Audrie Pott’s name was published because her family wanted public exposure of the case.

Police repots say that in the days that followed the party, Audrie Pott became aware that photos of her ordeal was being shared by a group Saratoga High School students.

According to authorities and the Pott family claim incident happened at the home of Michael Penuen and Sheila Penuen in Saratoga. The suit claims the couple left their teen daughter at home when they were away from home. The Penuens' daughter told her parents she was sleeping over at at the home of Audrie Pott, but threw a party where she served alcohol at her parents’ house. It is unclear whether the Penuens’ the daughter has been named in the lawsuit.

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