MN High School Football Player Sexually Assaulted Teammate: Cops

PROCTOR, MN — A 17-year-old who was on the Proctor High School football team is accused of sexually assaulting one of his teammates in September.

On Jan. 14, the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office filed a petition in juvenile court charging the player — who lives in Proctor — with third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The 17-year-old used the wooden handle of a plunger to sexually assault his teammate on Sept. 7, according to authorities. Other teammates helped hold down the victim during the assault, police said.

Prosecutors plan to ask the court that the 17-year-old be tried as an adult. If convicted as an adult, they would face a max sentence of 15 years in prison.

The team's head coach, Derek Parendo, resigned and the season was canceled in September after a complaint of student misconduct surfaced. "I resigned because of the toxic environment at Proctor," Parendo told FOX 21.

In October, the St. Louis County Attorney's Office began reviewing evidence from the Proctor Police Department's criminal investigation into members of the football program.

The attorney's office said rumors that spread throughout the Proctor community — a city of about 3,000 located outside of Duluth — prolonged the investigation.

"The investigation in this matter was unnecessarily complicated and delayed by the voluminous amount of social media speculation surrounding this incident as investigators were forced to devote their limited resources to responding to social media rumors," the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office said last week.

"While no additional charges are being filed against other individuals at this time, the matter remains an active investigation with the Proctor Police Department."