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A group of high school football players was indicted by a grand jury of several charges in Maryland for allegedly raping four young teammates in a school locker room, the prosecutor's office said. State.
Four second-year students at Damascus High School were charged with rape, attempted rape and conspiracy to commit rape for sodomizing freshmen with a broom, Montgomery County State Attorney State, John McCarthy, said Friday at "Good Morning America".
Under Maryland's law, 15-year-old suspects, identified as Jean Claude "JC" Abedi, Kristian "KJ", Jamal Lee, Will Daniel Smith and Caleb Thorpe, charged at age adult, could face life in prison for their alleged involvement.
WJLA "Some people have used the term" hazing "in connection with that, but it's not a hazing," McCarthy said. "We take this seriously and I do not plan to send a message to anyone other than the boys who have been victims in this case and to those who have committed these crimes that there will be responsibility when you participate in the type of activities that these boys have engaged. in."
The October 31 assault was revealed when one of the victims' father found him sobbing in his room late at night and reported it to the school, according to court documents. 'charge. The high school director "reported a broom aggression" the next day, according to last week's accusations document.
"JC Abedi and KJ Lee seized [victim B] by the shoulders and threw him to the ground.One of them maintained his feet and, while he was face down, his pants were lowered and he was stung in his buttocks with the wooden broom.
WJLA The second teenagers allegedly assaulted each first-year student individually, according to the documents. According to earlier documents, at least two of the defendants might laugh during the attack, one of the alleged victims screaming and shouting.
The suspects would have pulled another victim's sweater "over his head, punched, punched and trampled on his back," he said. arrest documents during the assault.
WJLA A victim told the police that "someone in the locker room said that it would be good to do it too", before Abedi, Lee and Smith then held it "face against the floor on a bench in the locker room and lowered his training pants and blue underpants ", according to documents that identify the victim as" victim C ".
Victim C stated that she had "stabbed" her buttocks several times, "according to the documents. He described the broomstick as a wooden handle with a "cut on the top" and stated that the assault had lasted about 10 seconds before Abedi, Lee and Smith proceeded in the same manner to another member of the Varsity Junior Football Team.
Another student involved as both victim and suspect. According to the arrest warrants, this student was not identified "because he is a minor and he is not charged as an adult" . The status of his case, or what he is accused of, is not clear.
Authorities are investigating similar attacks in the past. A victim was told that the act was a tradition at school, but investigators have "neither supported nor found a confirmed case of this sort of thing that happened before."
"We promised the community to look beyond the Halloween incidents this year, in 2018, when this event took place, to look back at previous years and we will investigate thoroughly with the police. Montgomery to find out if that has already happened, "McCarthy said. says "GMA". "Is this the urban tradition or is it the reality? We are trying to find out the truth about it and, quite frankly, while I am sitting today, I do not know the answer to that question. "
Authorities executed a search warrant in the locker room and collected a wooden broom as evidence, according to court documents.
Defense attorney, David Felsen, who represents Smith, told ABC News that he was considering filing a motion for the case to be referred to a juvenile court, which that McCarthy called "standard procedure". Thorpe's lawyer, Shelly Brown, also said that her client "should be treated as a child in the justice system."
"Jean-Claude is a young man who is caught in a bigger affair than him," said Abedi's attorney, Daniel Wright, at ABC News following the announcement. rape charge. "Why do the school and the state seek to blame children?"
Lee's lawyer, Jason Downs, did not respond to a request for comment, but testified in court Tuesday that his client was considered to be more involved than his.
A spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools did not immediately respond to ABC News's request for comment.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story misstated the charges against the four persons. According to the prosecutor's office, they were charged under eight counts of rape, attempted rape and conspiracy to commit rape. The story has been updated.
Julia Jacobo and Stephanie Ramos of ABC News contributed to this report.
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