Mother hands teen son suspected of Facebook Live gang rape over to police

Boys threatened to have a pit bull attack girl if she tried to get away as roughly 40 people tuned in to watch the attack

Police expect other juveniles and an adult to be charged in the case (REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov )

A suspect in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl that was streamed live on Facebook was turned in to a police station by his mother.

The teenage girl, from Chicago, was allegedly assaulted by five or six males as around 40 people watched on the video streaming service without reporting the attack.

During the initial hearing for the 15-year-old, one of two boys charged in the case, Assistant State's Attorney Maha Gardner said the 14-year-old charged in the attack told the victim she could "have sex the easy way or the hard way."

The 15-year-old boy was taken into custody "accompanied by a parent", The Chicago Tribune reported.

Both suspects are charged with aggravated sexual assault and manufacturing and dissemination of child pornography.

"Both videotaped these egregious actions," Ms Gardner said. "They didn't stop there. They put them up on Facebook for the world to see."

Ms Gardner said the 15-year-old was with another boy when they encountered the 15-year-old girl in a neighbourhood park on 19 March and lured her to a basement in the West Side neighborhood of Lawndale, where authorities say she was assaulted.

Both boys knew the girl, the prosecutor said.

The boys threatened to have a pit bull attack the girl if she tried to get away, Ms Gardner said, and added the girl was slapped several times during the attack.

Assistant public defender Liliana Dago said prosecutors hadn't proven probable cause for the 15-year-old, particularly on the child pornography charge. She also said most of the sex acts were carried out by the 14-year-old.

The judge said the 15-year-old bore responsibility for the assault as well.

"The very nature that he's in the video ... one can assume he was manufacturing child pornography," Judge Patricia Mendoza said.

Police said they expect other juveniles and an adult to be charged in the case.

The girl's mother later told The Associated Press the girl and her family were being taunted online and ridiculed and harassed by children in their neighbourhood and police said they are investigating the online comments.

Police have moved the girl, whom they describe as "traumatised," to a home outside the neighbourhood.

Additional reporting by Associated Press