Audrie Pott Rape Photos Never Went Viral, Classmates Say

Photos of Audrie Pott being raped by three of her classmates never went “viral” at the high school, students at the school are now saying.

The Northern California girl committed suicide last year after the alleged rape, and news outlets have said that the photos of the assault were widely distributed in her school. As a result of the trauma of the rape and subsequent online bullying that Audrie Pott faced, she ended her life.

Now students at the school have told the Saratoga High School Falcon that the photos were seen by only about 10 people at the party where the alleged rape took place.

“The media said the pictures were all over,” said one student who was a mutual friend of both Pott and the boys accused of raping her. “That’s not true.”

An attorney for the Pott family claims that Audrie passed out from drinking too much and only learned about what happened when she saw a photo from the evening. Students refute this report, saying that the pictures were never posted on Facebook.

“I was really close friends with Audrie, and I haven’t even seen it,” student Catherine Tang told the newspaper. “I know it was not all over Facebook and viral like how the news is saying. I know that it wasn’t that the whole school knew about it.”

Audrie Pott’s rape and subsequent suicide hit the news this week when police charged three boys with the crime. Though the names of sexual assault and suicide victims are normally not disclosed, Pott’s family has made the information public in an attempt to get justice for her rape.

Bob Allard, an attorney representing the Pott family, is pushing for the three boys charged to be tried as adults.

“This is not your typical juvenile crime,” Allard said. “We’re talking about an orchestrated crime. Right up next to murder would be an assault like this. An adult-like crime with an adult-like mentality.”

Allard added that he would like to see a homicide charge against the boys for spreading the photos of Audrie Pott’s rape, leading to her suicide.