Audrie Pott's Family Says Saratoga High School Principal 'Lied'

Saratoga High School Principal Paul Robinson lied to the San Jose Mercury News last September after one of its reporters interviewed him following the suicide of Audrie Pott, 15, and he denied that bullying had anything to do with it, said the stepmother of the girl on the Saratoga Patch Facebook page.

Lisa Pott's post came after Saratoga Patch posted a link on the page of Los Gatos Saratoga High School District Superintendent Bob Mistele's statement in response to the case released to the media Wednesday afternoon.

"It doesn't surprise us that he continues to issue lies. We will be responding with an official statement shortly," Lisa Pott wrote.

The "message to the community" said an internal district investigation showed that Audrie, who hanged herself Sept. 10 at her mother's home in Los Altos, had never reported or sought counseling for bullying before or after the alleged sexual assault. "If she had, our staff would have reported it and taken preventative steps to stop it," Mistele said.

Since her death two days later at a hospital after being on life support, Mistele said the district has thoroughly examined its counseling records and interviewed its staff to see if there were any warning signs or indications that Audrie was being bullied or harassed at school.

However, Robert Allard, the attorney representing the family, contends that Robinson and district officials knew of the bullying and the girl's alleged sexual assault at the hands of three Saratoga High School students because they had been cited with misdemeanor sexual battery in September of 2012.

That fact was known to Robinson when the reporter interviewed him, according to Lisa Pott.

They're being held in Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, and appeared Tuesday before a judge for a court hearing.

The family on Monday filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the boys and the owners of the home where the alleged crime occurred during Labor Day weekend Sept. 2, 2012. They accuse the parties of negligence, inflicting emotional distress, defamation, invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, battery, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and conspiracy, and seek damages in excess of $25,000.

Allard said the investigation into the alleged assault was hampered because the students were not forthcoming with evidence.

"The cooperation wasn't there ... Frankly that's one of the reasons we had to file a lawsuit because the people weren't speaking voluntarily," Allard said.

"This is an opportunity for us to put all the pieces of this puzzle together and figure out who knew, when they knew it and why they didn't come forward," Allard added.

Lisa Pott has also said that a week after Audrie's suicide, resource officers from the school came to her home, and said they were having a hard time getting the evidence and pictures they believed were taken of the girl while intoxicated and unclothed because one or more of the perpetrators had lost their phone or had broken their phone.

Mistele said allegations of photographs of Audrie's sexual assault being circulated among students remains unclear. "Along with law enforcement investigators, we have been unable to verify the extent to which any photographic images may have been shared on campus or the Internet before or after her suicide that may have contributed to her feeling embarrassed or harassed," he said.

Lisa Pott and investigators have also said they don't know whether the image was posted online or not, but they know for certain that images of the alleged assault were taken with cell phones and that they were shared at school.

In the wrongful death claim, the attorney details how the girl's body was unclothed, her shorts removed and her intimate parts marked with writings or drawings.

"Most of the football team knew," Lisa Pott said. "In her opinion everyone was talking about it ... In her mind it was an epidemic and everyone was talking about it and I think we all know that at a high school word travels quickly whether it's word of mouth or text messages to people."

The Santa Clara County District Attorney is in possession of the photographs, Allard said.

Allard announced late Tuesday evening, through spokesman Ed Vasquez, that Audrie's parents had also filed a claim against the district to preserve their right to future legal action against the agency.

However, Mistele in his statement Wednesday said that the claim had been submitted March 7 and had been denied by the board of education.

—Comprehensive coverage of the Audrie Pott case can be found on our topic page by clicking here.