3 Chicago area teens charged with raping 12-year-old after posting video of the assault to Facebook
Three Chicago area teenagers sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl and later posted the attacks on Facebook, Cook County prosecutors said on Friday.
Justin Applewhite, 16, Kenneth Brown, 15, and Scandale Fritz, 16, were each charged, as adults, with one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault. The presiding judge ordered all three teens held on $900,000 bond.
According to court documents the following transpired:
On December 15, 2012, the victim walked to the home of Fritz and when she arrived he led her down to a basement where he sexually assaulted her despite her demands for him to stop.
Fritz then brought Applewhite and Brown, who the girl had seen taking a gun in and out of his pocket earlier, down to the basement. This group asked the young girl three times to engage in sexual activity with Applewhite and Brown. She refused their requests the first two times but on the third she relented because she was aware they were gang members and was fearful of being shot by Brown.
Applewhite and Brown then raped the young girl while Fritz recorded the assault. Fritz was identified in the video because at one point he turned the camera to his own face. The video showed Brown waiving a gun around during the sexual assault while all three yelled what was labeled as gang slogans. The young girl filed a police report the next day and was taken to an area hospital.
On Dec 17 the video was then posted to Brown’s Facebook account and was later shared via Applewhite and Fritz’s Facebook pages.
Fritz provided a handwritten statement confessing to his involvement.
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Applewhite, Brown and Fritz are due back in court on June 6.
