Three Florida Elementary Students Charged in Sexual Assault of Autistic Girl

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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20001152-504083.html

March 25, 2010 11:24 AM

Three Florida Elementary Students Charged in Sexual Assault of Autistic Girl in

School Bathroom

Posted by Carlin DeGuerin

MIAMI (CBS/KFOR) Three elementary students were charged Wednesday in connection

with a shocking alleged sexual assault March 3 on an 11-year-old classmate whose

mother says suffers from a high functioning form of autism called Asperger's.

Miami Police say that two of the boys acted as lookouts while the third boy

followed the girl into the bathroom and locked the door. The girl says that the

boy then forced her to her knees and made her perform oral sex on him.

The girl's mother and her attorney told CBS affiliate KFOR that she wasn't

notified by Norland Elementary School officials about the incident for two days,

but her mother could tell something was wrong.

``She kept her head down,'' the girl's mother told KFOR. ``She wouldn't hold her

head up, she wasn't the same.''

The girl's mother called the incident a " nightmare " and said she can't

" understand how an eleven-year-old would think like that, " the victim's mother

said.

The boys outside the bathroom " attempted to defeat the victim's attempt to

escape the locked bathroom by grabbing and pushing her with the purpose of

keeping her confined, " according to police.

Two of the boys were charged with false imprisonment and being accesories to

sexual battery. The third boy was charged with false imprisonment and sexual

battery on a child under 12.

All three boys were charged as juveniles and were not taken into police custody.

The victim's mother said her daughter is " very aware of what happened to her. "

According to Schuster, Chief Communications Officer for Miami-Dade Public

Schools, all of the boys involved have been suspended and expelled. All of the

boys will be enrolled at different schools.

Two of the children are supposed to make their first court appearance March 30,

with the other child making his initial court appearance on March 31.