If they weren't football players.....

All I can say is that this is just sick. What makes kids think that it's OK to sodomize other kids? This isn't just a funny prank (like putting Ben-Gay in a jockstrap, which happened to some people I know) but a vicious and sexual attack. And these kids are just suspended? That's even more sick.

This is probably a subject of a whole separate thread, but from what we've seen from some school shootings, jocks are given a wide range to terrorize the less popular members of the school. This behavior is excused and ignored by administrators and parents. And when people stand up to these bullies, they are demonized. The football players who did this should be expelled, tried for rape and assult as adults and have the sexual predator label remain in their records for the rest of their lives.

OMG and they are not charged with any kind of sexual assault? That makes me sick! The poor boys who were victimised have to live with that trauma with the rest of their lives. It is just disgusting!

In NZ the same thing happened to a boy by a group with a broomstick. They were charged and found guilty, but for some stupid reason, their conviction was dropped. I will have to find out more about this.

IMO, they should be charged - it is nothing less than rape. All too often, the sports players get away with things just because the school doesnt want to lose their good team players.

Personally, I have no use for sports. I realize that young males need an outlet, for all of that testosterone but, this garbage is going way too far.

Those b******* need to be charged with aggravated sexual assault, tried as adults, locked up and find out, firsthand, what it feels like to be sodomized!

I agree!!

That goes way beyond hazing into criminal activity. If I were the partents of the victims I would press charges!

I agree, this was a criminal act and those boys need to be prosecuted.

This made me so sick I had to shut down TheCatSite for a while. I just couldn't think after reading this. I am upset that this happened to the boys, but I am furious and disgusted that the rapists have not been arrested and nothing more than "no more games" has been done to these evildoers.

As someone who has spent most of her professional life working with victims of violent crime, I am sickened and saddened by this story and what it tells us about our society. I hope the slimy SOB's get what they deserve in the end (no pun intended).

Those boys just got the message that it's ok for them to do whatever they want to whomever they want. They will more than likely do it again, because they got away with it this time. The school administrators, coaches, parents, and police need to think about how they would feel if it were their child being "hazed."

Boys like these give a bad name to the thousands of kids who play sports and don't do such things. These are just bad kids, hiding behind their status as football players.

I heard on the radio this morning that one of the victims had to have surgery because he was so seriously injured during the rape.

And...still no arrests!

Shocking beyond words. Those monsters need to be in jail. To not press charges and treat it as a 'hazing' incident gives them a green light to commit other violent crimes in the future.

My heart goes out to the boys who were assaulted.

OMG how sick!!

This is disgusting pure and simple. This disturbs me on so many levels I can't even begin to reply other than total and complete disgust.

Teens Charged With Sodomizing Teammates
By DAVID B. CARUSO

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Three high school football players were charged Thursday with sodomizing younger teammates during a hazing at a preseason training camp.

The teens have been under investigation by authorities and a grand jury in Pennsylvania for allegedly sexually torturing the teammates with a broomstick, pine cones and golf balls during the Aug. 22-27 camp in Preston Park, about 125 miles north of Philadelphia.

State police said the alleged victims, a 13-year-old and two 14-year-old boys, were threatened, beaten and then violated with foreign objects covered in a pain-relieving cream. Two of the suspects are 16, the other is 17.

The suspects, members of the Mepham High School football team in Bellmore, N.Y., face a list of juvenile court charges, including involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, kidnapping, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment.

Sixty players and five coaches from the team attended the camp. Officials said the coaches slept in a different cabin from the players and were unaware of any problems until a parent complained to a principal at the high school.

None of the teens has been arrested. They will be asked to voluntarily travel to Pennsylvania to face the charges, and warrants will be issued if they refuse, prosecutor Mark R. Zimmer said.

Investigators are still trying to determine if charges against other students or adults are appropriate.

The Long Island school suspended three players from the team pending the outcome of the investigation, and the Bellmore-Merrick school district canceled the team's season.

The names of the players who were charged were not released Thursday and it was not immediately clear if the defendants were the three suspended players.

Larry Spern, an attorney for one of the suspended players, would not confirm whether the boy he represents was among those charged. He said he could not comment on the charges.

Attorneys for two of the other suspended teens did not immediately return phone calls.

While the teens were charged as juveniles, Zimmer said he is considering whether to transfer the case to an adult court. If they are charged as adults and convicted, the teens could face significant jail terms.

``We are hoping that Mr. Zimmer will do everything in his power to ensure that (the suspects) are prosecuted as adults,'' Robert P. Kelly, an attorney for two of the alleged victims. ``This goes way over any juvenile hazing.''

Bellmore-Merrick Superintendent Thomas Caramore said he was ``encouraged that the process is moving forward and that justice will be served.''

I still think they should have been arrested, but at least they have to appear in court.

I can tell you one thing. If it was my kids that they "hazed". All hell would break loose. This kind of stuff is intolerable, and I would not settle for anything less than them being charged as an adult.


Those three kids are going to be traumatized for life. This isn't something that they will ever forget. I've been through some assault on this caliber and through heavy counsiling and therapy I've been able to go on with my life. However, not a single day goes by that I don't think about it, and my self esteem is well below average.


This infuriates me beyond belief. Pray, that when I have kids nothing like this happens to them, because I'll likely end up in jail myself.

Just the other day some footballs players at my old highschool (9th graders) brutally beat a kid at football practice, sending him to the hospital, and then got "suspended" from the team. I don't even think they got suspended from school.. Anyhow, their parents are freaking out and trying to sue or something, just because their kids can't play football for a few games.. wth?

My bf was a jock in highschool and he said they could get away with everything. Even the local cops knew them, so when they got pulled over for underage DUIs, they'd be let go with a warning and a "go get em this friday". Whatever.

The whole butt rape thing is crazy though.. kids are getting more and more out of control..

Wow, Anna....
Those boys' parents were more worried about their kids' not being able to play football than about the fact they brutalized another kid???

I knew a girl in college who lived in the dorm - one night some guys from a visiting football team tried to break into her dorm room. She kept a shotgun under her bed, and when they got the door open she was there ready & waiting. She could have gotten in a lot of trouble for having that shotgun, but I'd hate to think what would have happened if she hadn't had it there!

Seems like a lot of communities and parents raise these boys to be sociopaths, just because they can throw, run, or catch a ball.

There was a horrible case in New Jersey, I think in the 1980's, where a mentally challenged girl was sexually assaulted by 2 football players with various implements, while most of the rest of the team watched. I think that it came out eventually because one of the observers had a crisis of conscience and told his parents, who then told the police. There was initially tremendous resistance against prosecuting any of them, and much of the town, which was a fairly affluent one, was outraged that there was any talk against these 'good boys.' There was of course a claim that she had 'consented'; I think she was past the age of statuatory rape but her mental status was such that the question of consent was ludicrous. They were eventually prosecuted, and several were convicted. I believe the main actors were given harsh sentences and are still in jail.

The story was eventually made into a TV movie, I think, if it sounds familiar to anyone.

I do remember that movie. I hate it when they make the victim out to have consented.

I hope that the prosecutor pushes this. Where those little weasels are headed, they're going to find out, what it feels like, to be a victim.

Hear Hear Cindy!

This is just aweful!!!

I think its a 'language' thing but - forgive my ignorance - what is hazing. We may have a different word for it.

Yup, send them to jail. And it's well known who ends up at the bottom of the food chain in jail.

tulip: Hazing is a long held tradition. It's a form of initiation of new members to a particular group. Usually harmless pranks and jokes. The whole aim is to promote bonding between the new members and existing members.

Though nowadays when it is mentioned in the media, it's not harmless and it means that people have gotten hurt and humiliated by sexual acts forced upon them or they've been beaten or been stripped of their dignity in an embarrassing and cruel fashion.

When I was in college, one of the fraternities was notorious for hazing. Once, I was hanging out late with some friends, it had to be 4 in the morning, and it was cold, probably in the 40s. We heard this weird noise, when we looked outside, we saw the new members of the fraternity outside doing pushups in their underwear.

Hazing sometimes involves drinking huge quantities of alcohol in a short period of time. It has on occasion led to alcohol poisoning, and some students have died as a result. It's a practice that needs to end.