A 14-year-old boy has been arrested in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old Chicago girl that was streamed live on Facebook, police said late Saturday.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a press release that the juvenile suspect faces felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography.
“Additional arrests are expected as the investigation continues,” Guglielmi said. Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is slated to provide more details at a news conference Sunday morning.
The alleged incident occurred in mid-March. Guglielmi has said police were not aware of the attack until the girl’s mother approached Johnson as he was leaving a police station on the city’s West Side and showed him the video.
Guglielmi said Johnson was “visibly upset” after he watched, both by the video’s content and the fact that there were “40 or so live viewers and no one thought to call authorities.”
Police have said the attack involved five or six males.
The girl’s mother told The Associated Press last month that her daughter received online threats following the attack. The Chicago Sun-Times later reported that the girl’s family had been relocated.
The video marks the second time in recent months that Chicago police have investigated an apparent attack that was broadcast live on Facebook. In January, four people were arrested after video showed them allegedly taunting and beating a mentally disabled man.
