Adriana Kuch attacker gets additional assault charge in beating that led to suicide. The additional charge comes amid complaints about ongoing bullying and reluctance or inability from authorities to address violence.
One of the four girls accused of attacking a New Jersey teen who later took her own life after wide sharing of the ‘humiliating’ assault on social media is facing a conspiracy to commit aggravated assault charge on top of a previous harassment charge.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer in a statement on Thursday said that one of girls who allegedly participated in an attack on Adriana Kuch, 14, just two days before committing suicide is facing the additional charge.
Video of the February 1 beating was posted online and led to additional harassment and bullying for Kuch, who was just one month from celebrating her birthday.
Adriana Kuch family sue NJ school for failing to protect teen daughter
As of Thursday, one teen has been charged with aggravated assault and three have been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.
The students, who authorities declined to identify due to their young age, would be facing third-degree crimes if tried as adults which could result in up to five years in prison and thousands in fines.
“Adriana Kuch attackers and bullies identified by social media as Ayona Lanzetti, Keyona Brinson, Amira Mosley and Jasmine Puga in alleged planned attack against 14 year old Bayville, New Jersey schoolgirl.” https://t.co/AXMSh1b3US
— MAGA Americans Pray for the USA (@BackSpacerVille) February 16, 2023
Ringleader outed on social media
On top of the charges they face, all four teens have been suspended indefinitely from Central Regional High School in Berkeley Township, New Jersey.
Despite authorities decision not to identify the alleged perpetrators, outraged social media commentators identified the four teen girls as: Ayona Lanzetti, Keyona Brinson, Amira Mosley and Jasmine Puga.
Commentators on social media alluded to Ayona Lanzetti being the instigator of the beating.
Posted Harper Qui on Twitter: ‘A relative named the students who planned the attack on Adriana Kuch. The attackers are Ayona Lanzetti (White), Keyona Brinson (Black) and Amira Mosley (Black). The fourth attacker Jasmine Puga (Hispanic) has been confirmed through social media.’
Wrote Precious Roy: ‘Ayona Lanzetti is the one who filmed and is the instigator. She’s the one who kept sending it to Adriana. Her mother is named Angelina Lanzetti. She’s a recovering junkie who is 33, with an IQ to match and can’t hold down a job so she sells Scentsy….’
In a recent interview with FOX News, Adriana’s father, Michael Kuch, said he is intent on making sure the students responsible for the attack are punished.
‘I want laws put in place that these kids are prosecuted for making, posting, and sharing these videos,’ Michael said.
A father’s desperate bid for justice
‘I would love it if these kids were not even allowed to have a phone in school. I mean, that would stop this because there’s a culture where these kids think it’s fun,’ the dad said.
‘These 4 girls planned and executed an attack. If you watch the videos I have, they are laughing while talking about what they are going to do at the start of the video,’ he said.
Michael said his daughter faced bullying for months before the video was taken.
‘I do know why it happened. It happened because these two haven’t liked each other for a couple years, and she had been threatening my daughter online,’ the father said.
Previous reports have told of taunting and intimidation being rife in classrooms and hallways at the ‘troubled’ school, with school administrators seemingly in denial or overwhelmed to take action.
Multiple pupils from Central Regional School District say that bullying was part of everyday life at the school.
Adriana Kuch’s death is a horrifying example of schools abdicating their responsibilities and jeopardizing student safety.
She was assaulted at school, police weren’t called, and then the attack was uploaded to social media for everyone to see.
Her school failed to protect her. pic.twitter.com/cfCbSONoRI
— Nicki Neily (@nickineily) February 23, 2023
Ongoing school failure
Critics, including Adriana’s former classmate Emily Strick, are blaming the school district for neglecting and inadequately addressing such incidents.
‘It was absolutely terrible and it was unbelievable that they didn’t do anything about it’, Strick told Fox News last week.
Emily said that at one stage the bullying got so bad she was afraid to go to her classes.
‘I didn’t go to school for a full week because in Central you could get jumped very easily. I didn’t want to go. I was terrified. There were rumors and everything you can imagine. I’m not sure if the bullies got punished, but I’m pretty sure they did not.’
Emily’s mother, Jo Siclari, explained how despite efforts to alert the school, the district, and the police, no action appeared to have been taken.
‘I went to the school and went to the police and file reports. I wrote letters to the Board of Education and the superintendent. I sent everything certified actually, at the advice of Diane Grossman, who created Mallory’s Law after her daughter committed suicide, and I got no response,’ Siclari told Fox.
‘It makes me very angry. I mean, sending our children to school every day should not be a liability, and they’re the people that are there. We’re not there as parents, so we expect them to be our stand-ins when they have our children in the building.
‘They won’t tell us if the bullies got punished or not.’
The school district has had issues with bullying in the past, it has been revealed, as parents and students continue to come forward detailing how they or their loved ones were bullied at the high school, where they say the administration failed to act.
In response to the community’s concerns, the district released a statement, saying that they are evaluating all current and past allegations of bullying and will be undergoing an independent assessment of their anti-bullying policies.=0
