ABC7 — Five junior varsity football players at Damascus High School have been charged with raping four of their fellow male teammates on Halloween.
Sources confirm the five accused players used a wooden broomstick to sodomize the victims. The attacks, which school administrators have called "upsetting and unacceptable," happened following afternoon dismissal in the boy's locker room near the gymnasium. The four victims were picked, in part, based on their age and level of athleticism, sources add. On Friday, Montgomery County Police charged three of the players with two counts of second-degree rape and two counts of attempted second-degree rape.
A fourth player was charged with three counts of second-degree rape. The fifth player was charged with one count of attempted second-degree rape.
Following lengthy closed door conversations grounded in criminal law, authorities opted to pursue all five cases within the juvenile court system. That decision will likely result in significantly lighter sentences compared with the adult network, assuming prosecutors secure guilty verdicts. The juvenile system also shields its cases from public view, which in turn, will leave many important questions unanswered.
ABC7 asked the Montgomery County State's Attorney's Office why it opted to bypass the adult court system despite the abhorrent allegations. Spokesman Ramon Korionoff responded in writing, saying, "I can't talk about juvenile matters by law.
