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Former Hamilton High School football player pleads guilty in hazing assault

admin — Sun, 17 May 2020 22:30:32 +0000

Nathaniel Thomas pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Editor’s Note: The above video is from previous coverage of the assault case involving Hamilton High School football players.

A student charged in connection to a hazing case at Hamilton High School in Chandler pled guilty Friday morning.

Nathaniel Thomas pled guilty to three counts of aggravated assault and was sentenced to six months of probation.

He may also have to pay up to $5,000 in restitution.

Thomas was charged with nine counts, including aggravated assault, sexual assault, kidnapping and child molestation in connection to a hazing incident involving high school football players, court documents say.

Thomas was the only teenager to be charged as an adult. Five other players were charged as juveniles.

Thomas was accused of participating in the sexual assault and extreme hazing among football players that took place on campus between September 2015 to January 2017.

Chandler Police recommended the former football coach, former athletic director and former principal be charged with child abuse for failing to report the assaults. All three are mandatory reporters under state law.

But former Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery declined to file charges, saying not enough victims had come forward.

The victims filed a lawsuit against the school, the administrators and the district. That lawsuit was settled, but the terms were not disclosed.

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Penn State football player denies sexually hazing teammate as alleged in federal suit

admin — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 08:48:16 +0000

WILLIAMSPORT – A Penn State football player accused of sexually hazing a teammate in 2018 denies the conduct occurred.

Damion Barber, a reserve defensive tackle from Harrisburg, in a filing Tuesday night in U.S. Middle District Court denies he acted in any unlawful way toward Isaiah Humphries.

Humphries, who transferred to the University of California after the 2018 season, has sued Penn State, head football coach James Franklin and Barber.

The university and Franklin, in a separate filing Wednesday, asked Judge Matthew W. Brann to dismiss Humphries’ negligence claims against them.

Humphries claims they permitted him to be the subject of harassment and hazing by other players, in disregard of the university’s written anti-hazing policy.

He alleges linebackers Micah Parsons and Jesse Luketa and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos conspired with Barber to sexually harass him and other players in the Lasch Building.

Parsons, Luketa and Gross-Matos are not defendants in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

In response to the suit, Barber denied he or the others ever “orchestrated, participated in, directed and/or facilitated a campaign to harass and haze” anyone.

He further claims he was not aware of, witnessed or participated in an initiation to become or remain a member of the team as Humphries alleges.

Barber admits he was charged with violating the harassment clause of Student Code of Conduct but said Humphries was not the victim. He was not found to have committed any act of hazing, he said.

In seeking dismissal of the negligence claims, Penn State and Franklin contend they fail because:

Courts have ruled universities, absent of exceptional circumstances not present in this case, do not owe adult students a duty of care.
Humphries cannot demonstrate he was subjected to hazing as defined by the Pennsylvania Anti-hazing Law or its successor, the Timothy J. Piazza Anti-Hazing Law.
Since there is no dispute the university and Franklin did not perpetrate the alleged harassment, at most Humphries can claim is they failed to stop it. The anti-hazing laws impose no such duty.

Humphries alleges in early January 2018 that four of his teammates orchestrated a campaign to harass and haze other members by threats of sexual assault, stealing clothes, simulating humping action and placing their genitals on their faces and buttocks.

“His implausible theory” is not statutory hazing because freshmen cannot haze upperclassmen for the purpose of admission to or affiliation with the football team, Penn State and Franklin claim.

They also note Humphries’ suit does not state the dates on which the alleged conduct occurred or to which member of the coaching staff it was reported.

The negligent infliction of emotional distress claim should be dismissed because they say Humphries has failed to assert he suffered any physical injury as the result of the purported emotional distress.

Penn State and Franklin raised similar arguments in seeking dismissal of Humphries’ original suit. Humphries filing an amended complaint made that motion moot.

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Penn State football player denies sexual hazing allegations brought against him in lawsuit

admin — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 02:53:15 +0000

BRET PALLOTTO, Centre Daily Times (TNS)
Published 10:14 a.m. ET April 9, 2020

A Penn State football player accused in a federal lawsuit of sexually hazing a former teammate denied the “broad, bald” allegations lodged against him.

Junior defensive tackle Damion Barber joined coach James Franklin and the university in asking a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit filed by former Nittany Lion Isaiah Humphries.

Humphries alleged Barber was among a group of four players who orchestrated a campaign to haze underclassmen as a form of initiation into the team’s program.

The allegations include Humphries’ former teammates stealing clothes, simulating humping actions, grabbing the genitalia of others and placing their genitals on others while naked in the Lasch Building showers.

Barber “is not aware of, never witnessed any, and did not participate in” any initiation rituals to become or remain a member of the football team, his attorney Anthony De Boef wrote in his response filed Tuesday.

The allegations outlined in Humphries’ lawsuit were investigated by the university’s sexual misconduct and prevention office, which received an anonymous complaint six months after Humphries transferred to the California Golden Bears.

The complaint was not submitted by Humphries. It was submitted by someone else who reported the “harassment and victimization” of a second football player, Humphries’ attorney Steven Marino said in March.

Barber admitted he was charged with violating the harassment clause laid out in the university’s student conduct policy, but said his actions were not directed at Humphries.

The investigation found Barber did not haze anyone, De Boef wrote in his 20-page response.

Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna’s office also investigated Humphries’ claims, but Cantorna said the evidence garnered from that investigation “did not meet the high threshold necessary to file criminal charges and prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Franklin and the university in March asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed because the alleged hazing was carried out by the “least senior members” of the team and was not facilitated by either Franklin or the university.

The 10-count lawsuit is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

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Centre County DA says no charges have been filed after hazing allegations by a former Penn State football player

admin — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 05:21:49 +0000

Cantorna said the statement was issued to address questions arising from a civil suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg by former Penn State football player Isaiah Humphries. He claimed that he was the victim of hazing and harassment, some of it sexually suggestive, by his teammates in 2018, his only year at the university.

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Franklin, PSU facing federal lawsuit for hazing

admin — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 20:36:25 +0000

Former Penn State football player Isaiah Humphries filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the university, coach James Franklin and former teammate Damion Barber.

The suit alleges Humphries was subject to hazing brought on by Barber, linebacker Micah Parsons, defensive lineman Yetur Gross-Matos and linebacker Jesse Luketa, and that the coaching staff was aware of the hazing and did not protect Humphries.

The allegations include instances of the players named collectively orchestrating, directing and facilitating a campaign to harass and haze underclassmen on the Penn State football team. The hazing alleged in the suit includes the participants stating they intended to make the underclassmen “their bitch because this is a prison.”

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The participants allegedly referenced former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky — who is serving a 30- to 60-year prison term for sexually abusing children — by exclaiming, “I am going to Sandusky you.”

The actions included wrestling underclassmen to the ground while maintaining restraint, simulating a “humping” action; wrestling underclassmen to the ground while another participant placed his genitals on the face of underclassmen; and even instances of the participants placing their genitals on the buttocks of the alleged victims, stroking their genitalia.

Humphries is being represented by Philadelphia attorney Steven Marino, who says the incident is not isolated to just his client.

“Isaiah attended the school during the calendar year of 2018, he leaves Penn State to another school where he’s offered a scholarship in December 2018,” Marino said. “The events that arise to an investigation conducted by Penn State’s office of sexual misconduct and response, that doesn’t arise until May 2019. That investigation was triggered by an anonymous tip and the source of that tip was not my client.”

The results of the investigation were then submitted to the Penn State University office of student conduct, according to the lawsuit, and the office of student conduct prosecuted charges lodged against Barber. It is not clear, however, what specific student conduct rule violation he was charged with.

Barber was suspended for the first game of the season, against Idaho, for what was termed at the time of the suspension as a violation of team rules, but he played in the second game of the season, against Buffalo.

Marino says the father of his client, Leonard Humphries, notified the Penn State coaches of the hazing and that no action was taken at the time of those complaints. Leonard Humphries is a former Penn State football player and was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the 1992 NFL draft.

“This is a family with a football pedigree,” Marino said. “The father knows the coaches and told them what was happening to his son as it was reported to him by his son. No affirmative action was taken to protect this student athlete at that time.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege the coaching staff knew about the hazing and on multiple occasions “observed the harassment and hazing which the plaintiff and other lower classmen were being subjected to in the football locker room.”

Humphries is alleging the coaching staff overly and unfairly scrutinized his athletic performance for reporting the harassment and that he was scorned and punished by the staff.

Humphries left the Penn State team in 2018 and enrolled at Cal, where he is now a part of the Bears football program.

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State College, PA – Former Penn State Football Player Sues Franklin, University, Ex-Teammate Over Hazing Allegations –

admin — Tue, 14 Jan 2020 19:12:30 +0000

A former Penn State football player has filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was harassed and hazed by other team members and subjected to retaliation by the coaching staff after reporting the conduct.

Attorney Steven Marino filed the lawsuit on Monday in U.S. Middle District Court of Pennsylvania on behalf of former Nittany Lion defensive back Isaiah Humphries against the university, coach James Franklin and defensive tackle Damion Barber. Marino also represents former Penn State team doctor Scott Lynch in a separate lawsuit against Franklin and the university.

Humphries, who enrolled at Penn State in January 2018 on a football scholarship, alleges that Barber, along with teammates Micah Parsons, Jesse Luketa and Yetur Gross-Matos led “a campaign to harass and haze lower classmen members of the Penn State football team,” as a form of initiation. Parsons, Luketa and Gross-Matos are not named as defendants.

They would wrestle teammates to the ground, Humphries claims, and simulate sexual acts, as well as place their genitals on or near the alleged victims. The incidents occurred in the Lasch Football Building locker room and showers, campus dorms and other locations, according to the lawsuit.

They also allegedly stated that they intended to make lower classmen “their bitch because this is prison,” and threatened “I am going to Sandusky you,” a reference to former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of child sexual abuse.

Police received a report last spring of indecent assaults by a student in the Lasch Building. In December, WJAC-TV reported that a lengthy investigation resulted from one former player’s claim of being hazed by other players. Numerous team members denied the allegations and police and the Centre County District Attorney’s Office did not file charges. One player took and passed a lie detector test according to WJAC.

Humphries, who left the program at the end of his freshman season in 2018, claims that members of the coaching staff observed the alleged conduct on multiple occasions. He also says he reported it to the coaching staff and that his father, former Penn State player Leonard Humphries, reported it directly to Franklin, who did not take any action.

Instead, the lawsuit claims, Franklin and the coaching staff retaliated against Humphries, who says he “was scorned and punished.”

Humphries alleges he was required to participate in athletic drills designed to ensure he would fail, and that performance was used to deny him playing opportunities. He also says the team’s academic advisor subjected him “to irrational and inappropriate censure.”

The lawsuit claims Humphries was denied medical accommodations for diagnosed anxiety and narcolepsy and that the coaching staff tried to get him to leave the team by offering a medical retirement option.

When he decided to transfer, Humphries says, the staff provided negative reviews to other college programs. He ultimately transferred to the University of California.

Before leaving though, he claims he was ostracized and shunned by other players in retaliation for reporting the alleged hazing, and that Luketa threatened him with physical harm.

Last spring, Penn State’s Office of Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response received an anonymous complaint of harassment and hazing by football team members. After a formal investigation, Barber was charged with violating the student code of conduct and sanctioned by the Office of Student Conduct, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims negligence in violation of Pennsylvania’s anti-hazing law and infliction of emotional distress by each defendant. It also includes counts of assault and battery and civil conspiracy against Barber.

Humphries is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Barber, Parsons and Luketa are current members of the Penn State football team. Gross-Matos declared for the NFL Draft following the 2019 season.

A Penn State spokesperson has not yet responded to request for comment.

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A fired coach, and a lawsuit: Hazing scandal rocks Warren De La Salle

admin — Mon, 13 Jan 2020 02:47:47 +0000

De La Salle Collegiate High School in Warren, Friday, Nov. 1, 2019. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

As if forfeiting the playoffs wasn’t bad enough, Warren De La Salle’s championship football team took a few more hits Monday: The head coach was fired, just hours after three suspended players filed a lawsuit against the school.

The suspended athletes say they’ve been wrongfully accused of hazing and racially discriminated against, claiming 10 white football players are also under investigation for hazing, yet they are still allowed to attend school.

Their lawyer believes the football players were used as pawns in a bigger fight to get rid of the coach.

“This had nothing to do with hazing. This had everything to do with (De La Salle President) John Knight trying to get rid of the head football coach,” said attorney Paul Addis, who filed a defamation, libel and discrimination lawsuit Monday on behalf of the three suspended athletes.

The three minority football players were suspended in November on accusations of holding a younger player facedown on the locker room floor while one of them sexually taunted and prodded him with a broomstick. There was no penetration.

The students claim they are innocent, that their graduation and college educations are at stake, and that the school has kept their families in the dark about their suspensions.

About four hours after the lawsuit was filed, Warren De La Salle fired head football coach Mike Giannone, who led the powerhouse Pilots to two state championships in his three years on the job.

De La Salle offered no specifics on Giannone’s termination, saying only: “We can only confirm that Giannone is no longer with De La Salle.”

De La Salle also declined comment on the students’ lawsuit, citing policy not to comment on pending litigation. But it stressed that the “safety, health and education” of students is the “top priority, ” and that hazing is a serious issue.

“Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted by the hazing, particularly the students who were victimized and their families,” De La Salle said in a statement Monday. “We are confident we will grow from this experience and continue to build a strong school and, most importantly, strong young men whose futures will reflect the principles on which De La Salle was founded — faith, character, intellect and morality.”

Giannone, who was hired by the all-boys Catholic school in 2016, could not be reached for comment. He was on paid administrative leave since shortly after the hazing allegations broke.

Giannone came to De La Salle in 2016 after building Macomb Dakota into Macomb County’s No. 1 program. In 18 seasons at Dakota, Giannone had a 158-51 record, and his teams won the Division 1 state championship in 2006 and 2007.

His reputation followed him to De La Salle, where he won two state championships in three years.

In 2017, Giannone was named the Free Press All-State Dream Team coach of the year.

‘They know nothing’

According to police, the three suspended players and a dozen of their teammates are not cooperating. Neither is the alleged victim, they said, noting the teen boy has refused to talk and doesn’t want charges brought.

But while the police deal with silence, the new lawsuit offers insight into the investigation and interrogation that the accused say they’ve been subjected to. According to the lawsuit, here is what the three students and their families have been dealing with:

On Nov. 4, three football players were suspended, though their parents were never given details as to why. They were only told in a telephone call that their sons’ names were “mentioned in an investigation,” but nothing else, the suit claims.

Then came pressure for the accused to talk, the suit states.

During the suspension, the administration sent the three accused athletes a list of 10 white football players, and asked them to confirm that they were all involved in hazing, the lawsuit claims. The list of names was sent by text, to the parents of the accused.

But the students “refused to be blackmailed into returning to school,” the lawsuit claims.

“They have been singled out by this administration as the only ones involved in what President Knight has declared to be systemic, deep-rooted activity. Yet my three are the only ones being proclaimed the poster child for it? That’s flatly wrong,” said Addis, the lawyer who is representing the three suspended students and their families.

Addis, a 1993 De La Salle graduate who also played football there, said he doesn’t believe that hazing is deep-rooted at De La Salle, as administrators have claimed.

“If there’s this pervasive thing going on, there would be video. If this is a deep-rooted systemic problem, why isn’t there anything out there? It’s just unbelievable, unconscionable,” Addis said of the treatment of his clients.

When asked why the three accused students refused to implicate the 10 white students in the hazing scandal, Addis said:

“They were appalled by the insinuation that they would know something, They know nothing,” Addis said, adding his clients cooperated in an independent investigation launched by the school and denied pinning anyone to a floor and prodding them with a broom.

“They have flatly denied it to the independent investigator. We don’t even know who the (alleged victim) is,” Addis said. “This has got me so furious. To be treated this way by this administration is just beyond my comprehension.”

Among the lawsuit’s allegations is that President Knight pushed a false narrative in claiming that hazing was a pervasive and deep-rooted problem at De La Salle — so serious that he had no choice but to cancel the team’s season and forfeit the playoffs.

“John Knight has been able to control this narrative … and he’s doing it on the backs of my kids. And it’s gotta stop,” Addis said.

Knight was not available for comment, though he has previously defended his decision to forfeit the playoffs, saying he didn’t want the team to play the game “under this cloud and under these troubling issues.”

“What makes this decision heart-wrenching,” Knight said at the time, “is that we are aware of the fact that there are young men who are suffering and were not involved in this situation.” Knight previously said.

The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages from De La Salle, and aims to get the students reinstated.

Police request charges

Giannone has kept quiet since the hazing allegations surfaced in late October, when the school abruptly ended the football team’s season on the eve of playoffs. School officials turned the case over to Warren Police, which has requested that assault and battery charges be filed against the three accused students.

According to police, about 65 people have been interviewed since the allegations surfaced, including 59 players and six school officials, including coaches.

Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer said that Giannone “indicated he had no knowledge whatsoever about the incident and that he wouldn’t tolerate it.”

Meanwhile, St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling is expected to make a decision soon as to whether to charge the three accused football players. He told the Free Press last month that the suspects could be still be charged, even if the victim won’t talk.

“That is not a determining factor for our office going forward,” Wendling has previously said. “If there’s a crime and we can prove it, and we feel that charges are justified, we will go forward.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

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De La Salle football hazing suspects sue school: We were

admin — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 14:57:14 +0000

Warren De La Salle players run across the field to celebrate winning the MHSAA Division 2 championship after defeating Livonia Franklin 42-6 at the Ford Field in Detroit, Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. (Photo: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

Three suspended football players from Warren De La Salle sued their high school Monday, claiming they were unfairly kicked out of school amid a hazing scandal and blackmailed by school officials into implicating 10 other students if they wanted to be reinstated.

The accused students — who are all minorities — refused to “turn over names,” the lawsuit claims, and have been out of school for 46 days, with two of them in jeopardy of not graduating.

Moreover, the lawsuit accuses DLS officials of engaging in racial discrimination, claiming 10 white football players are under investigation in the hazing scandal, but are still in school.

The lawsuit, first reported by Fox 2, was filed on behalf of three minority football players who were suspended in November for allegedly holding a younger player face down on the locker room floor while one of them sexually taunted and prodded him with a broomstick. There was no penetration.

The hazing allegation surfaced in late October and prompted the school to abruptly end the football team’s season on the eve of playoffs.The all-boys Catholic school, which has won three state championships in the last five years, turned the case over to the Warren police, which has requested that assault and battery charges be filed against the three accused students.

The St. Clair County Prosecutor’s office is currently reviewing the warrant request for possible charges.

De La Salle, which has previously claimed that hazing is a deep-rooted and historic problem at the all-boys Catholic high school, declined comment on the lawsuit, stating: “We cannot comment on legal matters.”

But in a statement released Monday afternoon, it addressed the hazing allegations:

“Since we were first made aware of the hazing activities, we have been steadfast in maintaining the safety, health and education of all De La Salle students as our top priority while we navigate this troubling issue,” the statement reads. ” We have been working in full collaboration with our Board of Trustees and the Christian Brothers on all actions in response to the hazing allegations and will continue to do so as we address this lawsuit. Our hearts and prayers are with those impacted by the hazing, particularly the students who were victimized and their families.”

3 De La Salle football players suspended in hazing scandal; police to seek charges

‘They know nothing ‘

The three students were suspended on Nov. 4, but their parents were never given details as to why, the suit claims. They were only told in a telephone call that their sons’ names were “mentioned in an investigation,” but nothing else, the suit claims.

Then came pressure for the accused to talk, the suit states.

But the students “refused to be blackmailed into returning to school,” the lawsuit claims.

“They have been singled out by this administration as the only ones involved in what President Knight has declared to be systemic, deep-rooted activity. Yet my three are the only ones being proclaimed the poster child for it? That’s flatly wrong,” said attorney Paul Addis, who is representing the three suspended students and their families.

Addis, a 1993 De La Salle graduate who also played football there, said he doesn’t believe that hazing is deep-rooted at De La Salle, as administrators have claimed.

When asked why the three accused students refused to implicate the 10 white students in the hazing scandal, Addis said:

Police request charges

The lawsuit accuses De La Salle of defaming three football players by allegedly pushing a false narrative that portrays the students as aggressive bullies. It also accuses the school of unlawfully keeping the boys out of school, preventing them from graduating, and subjecting them to racial discrimination.

If the case did go forward, it would be based largely on the testimony of witnesses — in this case, football players who allegedly witnessed the hazing.

According to police, about 65 people have been interviewed so far, including 59 players and six school officials, including coaches.

According to Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer, “The coach indicated he had no knowledge whatsoever about the incident and that he wouldn’t tolerate it,” Dwyer said of head coach Mike Giannone.

Giannone has declined comment.

The police investigation started on the same day that the DLS football team was supposed to play in the playoffs. But in a blow to the Pilots, the school forfeited the game the night before because of hazing allegations that surfaced midweek, ending the season.

Parents were notified in an email that went out on Halloween.

“We have recently discovered a series of hazing incidents conducted by several players on our varsity team,” the email stated. “And many players on the team appear to have been aware of such hazing but failed to report it.”

In a follow-up news release, De La Salle said “the hazing has deeper roots, and is more pervasive than originally thought.”

De La Salle President John Knight has said ending the team’s season wasn’t an easy decision, but there was no other choice.

“It became clear to us that the right thing to do was to live by what we say we are: ‘Builders of Boys, Makers of Men,’ and to not play the game under this cloud and under these troubling issues we are looking at,” Knight previously said. “What makes this decision heart-wrenching is that we are aware of the fact that there are young men who are suffering and were not involved in this situation.”

Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/macomb/2019/12/16/de-la-salle-lawsuit-discrimination-hazing-football-high-school/2643061001/

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Former La Vernia High School football player Alejandro Ibarra rejects plea deals; has maintained his innocence since arrest in hazing scandal.

admin — Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:27:06 +0000

FLORESVILLE — A former La Vernia High School football player, accused in a hazing scandal that led to multiple arrests in 2017, will stand trial after rejecting plea bargains offered Monday by prosecutors with the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

About a dozen other accused athletes, both juveniles and adults, have accepted plea deals, bringing resolution to all but one of the criminal cases that roiled the small Wilson County town.

Alejandro Ibarra, now 20, rejected two offers from Assistant Attorney General Sharon Pruitt. Visiting Judge Donna Rayes scheduled Ibarra’s trial for July 13 and lawyers anticipate it will last four days.

Defense lawyer Adrian Perez requested one more chance for his client to accept a plea deal closer to trial, but a visibly frustrated Pruitt said all offers would expire Monday, adding, “Today’s our day.”

Ibarra was among 13 students arrested or detained in the case, which the La Vernia police chief at the time said involved athletes in the high school’s football, baseball and basketball programs. They were variously accused of using objects to violently sodomize at least 10 newer varsity teammates in so-called initiations.

Local officials at the time said the practice might have started in the 2014-15 school year. A federal lawsuit against the school district brought by families of the victims is expected to go to trial in February.

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A grand jury indicted four men who were adults at the time of the incidents: Ibarra, Dustin Norman, Colton Weidner, and Christian “Brock” Roberts, on second-degree felony charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. Each could have faced as many as 20 years in prison.

Norman, 21, Weidner, 20, and Roberts, 20, pleaded no contest to lesser charges of unlawful restraint, a state jail felony, avoiding prison time under agreements with prosecutors. Weidner and Roberts last month were ordered to serve five years of deferred adjudication probation, while Norman on Monday was given three years deferred adjudication. The three can avoid convictions on their records if they successfully complete the terms, and can ask for early release after completing community service hours and paying fines and court fees.

Two other adults and several juveniles who were charged also avoided jail time. In October, Robert Olivarez Jr., 20, pleaded no contest to unlawful restraint and drew five years of deferred adjudication. On Monday, John Rutkowski, 20, was allowed to plead no contest to hazing, a class B misdemeanor, in exchange for one year’s deferred adjudication.

Weidner’s lawyer, Stephen Barrera of Floresville, said the sentences were appropriate.

“A lot of guys that were accused are also victims” of previous hazing, he said.

Pruitt told the court that Ibarra was offered three years of deferred adjudication probation and a shot at early release if he would plead to the state jail felony of unlawful restraint. When he declined, the prosecutor offered 30 days in the county jail and a plea on a misdemeanor level of unlawful restraint, but Ibarra again rejected it.

Ibarra requested one year of probation for the misdemeanor charge, but Pruitt would not offer less than two years with the misdemeanor, Perez said.

He could not say why his client wouldn’t take the offers, and added, “Frankly, I might not even know.”

On ExpressNews.com: La Vernia football player arrested in sexual assault scandal defends accused ‘brothers’ on Facebook

Ibarra was quick to defend himself on social media after his arrest. He commented on Facebook posts saying he, Norman and Olivarez were innocent.

“They didn’t do anything. … I was with them every day and we were never involved in this stupid s—t!” Ibarra wrote on the Facebook page of a local reporter for San Antonio’s Telemundo affiliate.

Ibarra’s arrest warrant affidavit stated that he, Norman, Olivarez and another suspect held down a 16-year-old teammate and sexually assaulted him with the threaded end of a carbon dioxide tank

After the hearing, Perez apologized to the prosecutor for the back-and-forth negotiations over two hearings beginning in November.

“That’s OK. I have strong witnesses,” Pruitt responded.

Krista Torralva covers several school districts and public universities in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | Krista.Torralva@express-news.net | Twitter: @KMTorralva

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Third former Wheaton College football player pleads guilty to misdemeanor battery in hazing incident

admin — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 20:22:28 +0000

The third of five former Wheaton College football players charged in a campus hazing incident pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery count Tuesday in DuPage County court.

Samuel TeBos, 22, of Allendale, Mich., was sentenced to a year of conditional discharge and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, which is to include at least 25 hours talking to groups about the dangers of hazing.

TeBos, accompanied by his parents, admitted guilt to the charge in a brief hearing before Judge Brian Telander. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped other charges.

TeBos was given the same sentence that two of his former football teammates — Kyler Kregel and Noah Spielman — received in negotiated pleas with DuPage prosecutors.

The cases against James Cooksey and Benjamin Pettway remain pending.

The five were charged last year with several felonies, including aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint, in the March 2016 incident that started in a college dorm room. The five, who were then members of the team, are alleged to have entered the room before striking a freshman player named Charles Nagy. The group then bound the player’s arms with duct tape and put a pillowcase over his head before taking him to a pickup truck.

They allegedly left Nagy semi-naked on a local baseball diamond. The player said he suffered torn muscles in his shoulders from having his arms bound, and the injuries required surgery.

During the court hearing, TeBos admitted that he was the player who bound Nagy and placed the pillowcase over his head.

TeBos’ attorney, Todd Pugh, said his client did not have any malicious intent.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.

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