Seven high school football players from a New Jersey town were charged Friday for their alleged involvement in a series of hazing incidents.
The seven teens, between the ages of 15 and 17, are all students at Sayreville War Memorial High School in Middlesex County, New Jersey. Students at the school told investigators that during a series of hazing rituals between September 19 and September 29, at least one of the suspects held them against their will while other suspects improperly touched them in a sexual manner. One of the victims also told police he was kicked during an attack.
Police arrested six of the seven teens Friday. The seventh teen turned himself in Saturday.
Three of the teens are charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint and hazing. One of those teens as well as four other teens are charged with aggravated assault, conspiracy, hazing, riot and other related offenses.
Amid cries of disapproval and pleas from players and parents, a New Jersey school district unanimously approved the decision to sideline the school’s football team in the wake of the hazing allegations.
The school, which won the Central New Jersey Section IV championship three out of the last four years, had already canceled and forfeited a game against South Brunswick last week.
Sayreville Schools Superintendent Richard Labbe said Monday in a statement that the incidents took place "on a pervasive level, on a wide-scale level, and at a level in which the players knew, tolerated and in general accepted.”
