CHICAGO _ Juvenile charges were against a 14-year-old boy for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl that was carried on Facebook Live, and authorities are seeking the arrest of a 15-year-old boy in connection with the crime, police said Sunday.
Police are trying to identify others who took part in the assault, officials said, but the investigation has been complicated by the victim's trauma.
"She's just having such a difficult time even communicating what occurred to her," Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan said at a news conference. "We obviously have a video of the incident, so we have verifiable objective evidence of what occurred to this young lady, but she's just having a very difficult time."
"On top of it, there's constant social media ... bullying (of the victim), making fun of what occurred,'' Deenihan said. "This is just a very traumatic incident."
The 14-year-old was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacture of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography, all of which are felonies, police said.
The girl had stayed over with family the evening of March 18, gone to church with them the next day, and then was dropped off near home before disappearing. She was found March 21. Sometime during the time she was missing, she was sexually assaulted. In the Facebook Live video _ which had as many as 40 viewers at one point _ the girl was sexually assaulted by as many as six attackers.
Since the assault was reported and police began looking for suspects, the girl's family has been moved with the help of authorities because of threats and taunts.
Police contacted Facebook and the video was taken down.
The attack was at least the fourth Chicago crime caught on Facebook Live since the end of October.
After one of the previous attacks _ when a mentally disabled man was tormented and tortured by a group of people _ the company said it does not allow people "to celebrate or glorify crimes" on its network.
