'Widespread' Sexual Assault, Hazing Was Known To Coaches: Suit

PLAINFIELD, IL — Two former Plainfield Central High School football players were sodomized in their locker room as part of a hazing ritual known as "Code Blue," according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday by the players' parents.

According to the civil rights suit, the two boys were pinned to the ground by their fellow football players and assaulted with a broomstick until it snapped in half.

The suit names three Plainfield Central football coaches, Michael Moderhack, Jon Pereiro and Vincent Vasquez, and claims they knew about and failed to stop the assaults.

"The subject hazing rituals and traditions are a form of bullying and have been part of the culture of the Plainfield High School Football Team for years," the suit states. "The teams' coaches have sanctioned the rituals. Indeed, the Plaintiffs are but a fraction of the students who have been physically and sexually assaulted pursuant to this hazing ritual."

Four student-athletes at Plainfield Central, 24120 W. Fort Beggs Drive, were charged with misdemeanor battery following an attempted hazing on Oct. 17, 2019, Patch reported at the time.

Police confirmed the incident but said they later determined that the incident didn’t meet "the legal standard of 'hazing,'" as it was not done as part of an induction process and did not include bodily harm.

Details in the lawsuit directly contradict that claim.

Shortly after the incident, parents confronted school resource officer Matt Lehman and demanded answers.

"I can't protect 2,000 kids," Lehman told them, according to the suit.

Emails obtained through a public records request indicate district officials were aware of a video circulating on social media in October 2019 that showed several teens attempting to sodomize another boy with a broomstick, according to The Herald-News.

One of the football players claimed to have carried out the assault later admitted to coaches that "it was just a joke," according to Attorney Ian Fallon, part of Chicago-based law firm Romanucci & Blandin that's heading up the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court.

Tom Hernandez, the district's director of communication, declined to comment on the case.

Medically, Code Blue — as the hazing ritual was known — is a hospital code used to indicate a patient in critical need, such as cardiac arrest.

In this case, the term referred to a Plainfield Central football tradition dating back to at least 2014 that has affected "countless" students, according to Fallon. Older members of the team would chant "Code Blue," "Go get them" and "Hold them down" in the locker rooms, the attorney said. Some students would try to escape, and others would be held down on the ground and sodomized with broomsticks.

"Once again, we are here because our children face tragic, physical and mental life-altering events because those facilities, institutions, adults and coaches who know better and should know better once again failed those children because they refuse to know better," Attorney Antonio Romanucci said at a press conference Monday. "They stuck their head in the sand, and they allowed young men to be sodomized by varsity football players with broomsticks in a disgusting and reprehensible high school football ritual known as 'Code Blue.'"

Related reading:

• 4 Charged In Plainfield Central 'Hazing' Incident
• Reed-Custer Denies Lawsuit's Hazing Allegations Made By Family
• Niles North Football Reinstated, Hazing Investigation Finds No Criminal Conduct

"No student should have to suffer from that physical and emotional trauma just to participate in high school sports," Fallon said.

The boys, identified in the suit as Doe Child A and Doe Child B, have since left the Plainfield Central football team and have transferred schools, Attorney Bhavani Raveendran confirmed Monday.

"Our minor clients have been courageous in standing up for themselves today, for themselves, their families and their teammates, and they will continue to do so throughout this lawsuit," Raveendran said. "Our clients wanted to make sure that the students that came after them do not face the same painful violation of their right to bodily integrity for the sake of tradition as they did."

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and a judgment against Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202, as well as monetary damages and changes to school policies to prevent future hazing incidents and assaults.

Romanucci asked others who witnessed the events or who know more about "Code Blue" to step forward.

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