Seven football players at a New Jersey High School have been charged in connection with a series of alleged hazing incidents that took place last month.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said late Friday that six of the seven players for Sayreville War Memorial High School had been taken into custody earlier in the day. Police were looking for the seventh player who had been charged as of late Friday. The identities of the players were not released due to their ages.
Three of the defendants were charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint, and hazing. Four others were charged with various offenses, including aggravated assault, conspiracy, aggravated criminal sexual contact, hazing and riot
The charges were filed four days after Sayreville School Superintendent Rich Labbe announced that the remainder of the football team's season, citing 'significant and serious' allegations of bullying, harassment, and intimidation.
On Wednesday, NJ.com reported, citing a parent of one of the players on the team, that the alleged hazing involved upperclassmen football players pinning a freshman to the locker room floor. After lifting the player to his feet, one of the upperclassmen would penetrate the freshman anally with his finger. The parent claimed that the hazing happened almost every day.
The prosecutor's office said that the players are charged in connection with incidents that took place between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29, and allege that one freshman was kicked while he was being hazed.
The prosecutor's office said the defendants were between 15 and 17 years old and were being held pending a family court decision to determine whether they would be held at a detention facility prior to a court hearing or be released into parental custody.
Residents describe Sayreville as a hard-working, diverse place geared toward football but not football crazy. The borough of about 43,000 people is a great place to raise kids, which adds to the shock over the allegations, they say.
Cary Melendez, who has been living in Sayreville a few years, said football is particularly held in high regard by families that have children already playing.
'Everything revolves around getting the kids ready to play Bomber football,' Melendez said outside her house Friday.
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