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Multiple students at a New Jersey high school have been criminally charged over a series of alleged hazing incidents in the football team’s locker room, prosecutors said Monday.
The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said the “juvenile defendants” are facing charges including hazing, criminal sexual contact and false imprisonment over the purported attacks at Wall Township High School last September and October.
Prosecutors didn’t detail the accusations. But the high school was reportedly investigating claims in November that a sophomore football player was pinned to the floor of the locker room and hazed with a broomstick as he screamed for help.
About six older players on the Crimson Knights team were being investigated after videos of the alleged incident surfaced, NJ.com had reported.
In one of the alleged incidents, a group of players could be seen surrounding the sophomore with a broomstick as he screamed, according to parents. While the video did not show sodomy, the parents said it was clearly the intention.
“The results of our investigations necessitated the filing of juvenile complaints against those involved in order to serve the interests of justice,” Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said in a statement.
“It is imperative that victims of hazing, harassment, intimidation, and bullying know that such conduct is not a ‘rite of passage’ and should not be endured without consequence in order to gain acceptance in social, club, sport, or academic settings,” Linskey added.
A separate investigation by the prosecutor’s office also led to charges against one student accused of a sexual assault outside the school.
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