Pott family via Zuma Press / file

The parents of a 15-year-old California girl who committed suicide after pictures of her being sexually assaulted were posted onlineplan to sue the three teenage boys accused of attacking her, the family's attorney said Monday.

Audrie Pott of Saratoga, near San Jose, hanged herself Sept. 10, a week after she was assaulted while she was intoxicated and unconscious. The family's lawyer, Robert Allard, said Audrie felt she was being bullied after photos of the assault were disseminated through text messages and email at Saratoga High School.

Allard said he was filing the wrongful death lawsuit to force more information to be made public, NBC Bay Area reported.

NBC News usually doesn't name the alleged victims of sexual assault, but Audrie's parents have asked that her story be told. 

At a news conference Monday in San Jose, Audrie's mother, Sheila Pott, said she and her ex-husband, Larry Pott, were working to persuade lawmakers to stiffen penalties in California for cyber-bullying and to treat juveniles as adults in some cases of sexual assault. 

"If this could happen to my daughter, this could happen to anyone," Sheila Pott said.

Related: California case another three-part tragedy of rape, cyber bullying and suicide

The three boys, whose names haven't been released because they are juveniles, were arrested last week and are expected to appear in court Tuesday. In a statement, their attorneys said: 

"Much of what has been reported over the last several days is inaccurate. Most disturbing is the attempt to link Audrey's suicide to the specific actions of these three boys." 

Audrie's name is misspelled in the statement.

On a website started by her family, Audrie is described as a gifted art student who played the viola and the piano. She was part of a middle school band that played for at Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, it says.

A candlelight vigil is scheduled Friday at Saratoga High School.

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Pott Family / Zuma Press, file

Audrie Pott in an undated photo provided by her family.

Three boys accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old California girl who took her own life after pictures of the attack were posted online are due in court this week, as authorities ramp up their investigation into the latest case involving rape and cyber bullying.

NBC Bay Area reported that three 16-year-olds from Saratoga, a town of about 30,000 that is 13 miles west of San Jose, were arrested last week in connection with the September 2012 sexual assault of Audrie Pott.

Pott, 15, hanged herself eight days after the alleged assault, apparently despondent after photos of the attack were posted online and shared among classmates at Saratoga High School.

Pott's parents have said they did even not know about the attack until after their daughter's death. The parents have been in seclusion since the three boys were arrested, but they plan to speak publicly about the case at a news conference scheduled for Monday, according to NBC Bay Area.

"We're talking about, other than murdering someone, the highest degree of a crime you could possibly do, which is to violate them in the worst of ways ... and then to effectively rub her face in it afterwards," Robert Allard, the attorney representing the girl's mother, father and step-mother, told the Associated Press on Friday.

Allard said Pott was intoxicated and unconscious when the assault occurred, and that "there were multiple boys in the room with her."

Lawyers for the boys, whose names have not been released because they are minors, released a statement on Friday asking for the public to withhold judgement until their clients can tell their side of the story, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

"Much of what has been reported over the last several days is inaccurate. Most disturbing is the attempt to link (Audrie's) suicide to the specific actions of these three boys," the statement from San Jose attorneys Eric Geffon, Alan Lagod and Benjamin Williams reads. "We are hopeful that everyone understands that these boys, none of whom have ever been in trouble with the law, are to be regarded as innocent."

The boys are currently in a juvenile hall, although no charges have been formally filed, and are expected to appear in court on Tuesday, according to NBC Bay Area.

The incident occurred over Labor Day weekend last year in a prosperous Silicon Valley suburb on the west side of the Santa Clara Valley  that is known for its wineries and high-end boutiques.

The AP said Pott was at a sleepover at a friend's house when the unaccompanied teens got into liquor.

At some point, Pott went upstairs to sleep and "woke up to the worst nightmare possible," Allard told the AP.

The attorney said Pott soon "found an abundance of material online about that night, including pictures and emails." She also determined that the alleged attackers were boys she had considered friends. Pott then wrote on Facebook that the whole school  knew what happened and that her life was ruined, Allard said.

Members of the Pott family recently accused the alleged attackers of destroying evidence in the case, writing on Facebook that the "the boys who we believe responsible for Audrie's death took deliberate steps to destroy evidence and interfere with the police investigation." The family asked students with information about the case to come forward.

Santa Clara Country Sheriff Laurie Smith confirmed to NBC Bay Area that her department believes they're missing a key piece of evidence, which she described as a "critical electronic device" that has not been turned over.

The arrests of the three boys Thursday pushed the Saratoga case into the national spotlight, coming on the heels of the rape trial in Steubenville, Ohio, and the news that authorities in Canada are reopening their investigation in the case of 17-year-old suicide victim Rehtaeh Parsons.

Parsons, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was photographed during a sexual assault in November, 2011, then allegedly bullied online. Parson was taken off life support Sunday, April 7 — three days after hanging herself.

The Audrie Pott Foundation announced on Saturday it would hold a candlelight vigil at Saratago High School next Friday night.

The Associated Press contributed to this story

MIAMI -- A man was arrested for cutting almost all of his girlfriend's nose off after she refused to have sex with him, Fort Lauderdale Police said.

Ricardo Salamanca, from Plantation, faces a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm and remained in jail in lieu of $75,000 bail on Wednesday. It wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney.

On Oct. 28,  the victim was taken to North Broward Hospital for surgery to have her nose reattached.

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"The victim's nose was severed down to the sinus cavity where the victim's nose was only attached by a thread," the complaint affidavit said.

The woman identified Salamanca as the person who did this to her, authorities said.

She said that she had been in a relationship with him, and they lived together, the report said. That night, she had seen him at a Plantation nightclub but went home alone, the affidavit said.

Later, he knocked on the door and she let him in, but he started yelling when she would not have sexual intercourse with him, and he threw her down, trying to place her in a chokehold, the affidavit said.

She told authorities that he couldn't place her in a chokehold and she ran to the front door, according to the affidavit. She remembered being thrown across the room, and then saw that she was bleeding from her face, authorities said.

"That's what you deserve, b****," the affidavit quoted the defendant as saying.

Salamanca left, and she drove herself to the hospital, the report said.

She told authorities that she had been a victim of domestic violence from Salamanca in the past.

Jennifer Edwards Baker / The Enquirer

Pat Mahaney, 45, was treated for internal wounds at a local hospital for four days before his release Tuesday. Police said doctors had to insert a tube down his throat to remove all of the blood from his stomach.

A man in Ohio was severely beaten by six teenage boys who said they did so because they were bored, police allege.

Pat Mahaney was walking home from the store in North College, Ohio, Saturday with a six-pack of beer, looking forward to a quiet evening watching sports, when something hit him in the back of the head.

“They came from behind. They hit me,” Mahaney told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I don’t remember telling them anything.”  

Police said the six boys, ages 13 and 14, “were just bored and looking for something to do” when they ambushed Mahaney from behind. He was immediately knocked unconscious. During the attack, one of the boys hurled a beer can at Mahaney’s head, police said.

“The next thing I knew I woke up on my neighbor’s front step and the life squad was there,” Mahaney, 45, said.

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An officer responding to another call spotted a crowd of people gathered near Mahaney’s home. Several witnesses told the officer Mahaney was covered in blood after being “jumped by six children,” the police report said.

Mahaney was taken to Mercy Mount Airy Hospital, where he was treated for four days before being released Tuesday. Police said doctors had to insert a tube down his throat to remove all of the blood from his stomach.

A tube remained in his right nostril as blood continued to seep out of his head, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, and his left eye is heavily blackened.

Police said the teens admitted that Mahaney had done nothing to provoke being kicked and punched repeatedly in the face while he lay helpless on the ground. One of the boys allegedly told police they only stopped assaulting Mahaney when a neighbor began yelling at them and said he was calling police.

“They were pretty arrogant in the interview with us,” North College Hill Police Chief Gary Foust said of the teens. “This appears to be premeditated, and there was no remorse on behalf of any of the assailants.”

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The boys were arrested and taken to Hamilton County’s juvenile detention center, where they were released a short time later. They face felony charges of aggravated riot and felonious assault and are on house arrest at their parents’ houses, court officials said.

“I didn’t think kids could do something like this," Mahaney said. "They should be punished.”

Mahaney said he has no health insurance and has been unemployed for years. He said he has been looking for factory work.

The boys are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 24. 

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LOS ANGELES -- A substitute teacher in the nation's second-largest school district was investigated three times for allegations of sexual misconduct with students before he quit in 2007 and started teaching in another district, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The teacher, identified as 45-year-old George Hernandez, was never arrested or charged in the Los Angeles Unified School District cases.

The Los Angeles Times reported that when the third investigation was completed, Hernandez quit teaching in Los Angeles and started working for the Inglewood Unified School District.

He taught there for nearly three years before police found a videotape they say shows him molesting a second-grade girl at an Inglewood school.

On Wednesday, the Huntington Park Police Department released information about the investigation involving Hernandez in September 2010. The investigation began with a report of indecent exposure involving the suspect near Gage Middle School.

Hernandez's computer and other items were confiscated after authorities obtained a search warrant for his home. It was during that search that authorities found "a large quantity of child pornography" that included video of the suspect allegedly engaging in lewd conduct with a student, according to the sheriff's department.

Hernandez was arrested and charged with child molestation but posted bail. He failed to appear for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 30, 2010, according to the sheriff's department.

It is believed that Hernandez fled to Mexico, according to investigators.

"This guy should not have been kept in the district," Kathleen Carroll, an attorney who worked for the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, told the Times on Wednesday. "This is an outrage."

The case is one in series of lewd conduct investigations in the Los Angele Unified School District, including the accusations against two former Miramonte Elementary School teachers. One of the former teachers, Mark Berndt, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of lewd conduct involving more than 20 students.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read NBCLosAngeles.com’s coverage on the Miramonte abuse scandal

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WASHINGTON -- U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the Pentagon is preparing new initiatives to try to curb sexual assaults in the military -- a problem he believes could be six times greater than reported.

Panetta said 3,191 sex assault cases were reported in the military last year, but because so few victims come forward, he believes the real number is closer to 19,000 assaults. In 2010, 3,158 cases were reported.

"It is an affront to the basic American values we defend and it is a stain on the good honor of the great majority of our troops and our families," said Panetta during a press conference at the Pentagon.

“These women and these men who are willing to fight and die to protect and serve our country – they deserve better protection. Their families and dependents also sacrifice and serve. And so for this reason, we must spare no effort to protect them against this heinous crime. … One sexual assault is one too many.”

Panetta said new initiatives include extending victim services to military spouses as well as Pentagon civilians and contractors working abroad. Also, more money will go toward training investigators and lawyers to go after and prosecute perpetrators.

Under the new measures, service members who file sexual abuse charges can immediately transfer to a new unit or base to avoid harassment or contact with the accused attacker.

The proposals require congressional approval.

'Deeply regret'
Panetta spoke two days before the premiere of a new documentary about sexual assault in the U.S. military, titled "The Invisible War." The film is being shown at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Saying he wanted to speak directly to the victims of sexual assault in the Defense Department, Panetta said somberly: "I deeply regret that such crimes occur in the U.S. military ... I'm committed to providing you the support and resources you need and to taking whatever steps are necessary to keep what happened to you from happening to others."

Announcement of those two changes accompanied the Pentagon's annual report last month showing assault cases rose at the nation's three major military academies in the latest academic year from one year earlier.

The Defense Department's "Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies" for academic year 2010-2011 found there were 65 reports of sexual assaults involving cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. That was up from 41 reported assaults in the prior academic year. Officials said they could not conclusively identify the reasons for the increase but that it could be because the department has worked to encourage more victims to report assaults.

Beyond the academy report every December, the Pentagon also releases an annual report each March on sexual assaults throughout the services.

This post includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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