Damascus HS Waited To Tell Police About Alleged Rape: WaPo

GERMANTOWN, MD — Damascus High School officials waited more than 12 hours to tell authorities about allegations of rape involving multiple junior varsity football players, The Washington Post reported. The newspaper has published its investigation into the assaults that includes interviews with the victims and their families, police, attorneys and a look at text messages and school documents.

The incident on Oct. 31, 2018 initially brought adult rape charges against four 15-year-old junior varsity football players. According to court documents, the boys were accused of turning off the lights, pushing or pinning down four of their teammates, and sexually assaulting them with a broom handle in a hazing ritual called "brooming." All four teens recently had their cases transferred back to the juvenile court system.

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that school officials discussed the incident in a group text message on Halloween and launched their own investigation before reaching out to the Montgomery County Police Department. On Nov. 1, they pulled students out of class for interviews and were able to glean more details about the incident — including the identities of several victims and suspects.

According to the newspaper, none of the victims were sent to receive medical care following the alleged locker room attack. Their parents weren't notified of what happened either.

"It's absolutely absurd what the school did," James Humphries, a retired commander of the Montgomery County police special victims unit, told The Post. "They're not trained to do these types of investigations and these types of interviews."

When police were notified of the incident, the 15-year-old boys were arrested and faced multiple adult charges of rape and attempted rape. A fifth student involved in the alleged attack was only charged as a juvenile.

Now accused as adults of raping their teammates, the high schoolers tried appealing their cases in court. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Steven Salant ultimately decided to transfer their cases to the juvenile court system, but said it was "incredibly painful" to hear about the offense and "even more painful" to read the victims' impact statements.

"No adult listening to that can just sit and ignore the terrible things that happened," Salant said.

In her testimony, Carlotta Woodward, the county's assistant prosecutor, said that the victims are still grappling with what happened to them on Oct. 31. Some are in therapy as a result.

Damascus Principal Casey Crouse and other administrators declined The Post's requests for interviews.

See the full story on The Washington Post website.

SEE ALSO:

• Broomstick Rape Case: Damascus Teen To Be Tried As Juvenile
• Broomstick Rape Case: 2nd Damascus Teen To Be Tried As Juvenile
• Locker Room Rape Case: Third Teen To Be Tried As Juvenile
• Locker Room Rape Case: ADHD Defense Called 'Offensive'