Four teen boys have accepted a no-contest plea deal two years after they were accused of sodomizing and hazing members of their high school’s sports teams.
In March 2017, 13 student-athletes from La Vernia High School in Texas were arrested for sodomizing at least 10 boys at their school.
A mother of one of the victims described what the athletes did to her son. She told Fox San Antonio,
“They hold them down and stick various items in their rectums… including coke bottles, deodorant bottles, steel pipes, baseball bats, and broomsticks.”
Four other students, who were 18 at the time of the assaults, were already indicted earlier this year and charged with engaging in organized criminal activity.
The indictments stated that between August 2016 to March 2017, they sodomized six victims with their fingers, flashlights, shampoo bottles, a cardboard rod, and a carbon dioxide air bottle as a way to “initiate” new teammates.
After the school failed to take action, one of the families decided to take matters into their own hands and filed a lawsuit against the school district stating that their son was raped by his teammates at least 30 times and that a coach was aware of the assaults but failed to properly inform the school. The lawsuit states,
“The assaults on the minor child occurred at numerous locations, which included the gym locker room at La Vernia High School, the gym shower at La Vernia High School, during basketball practice at La Vernia High School, and at other schools’ basketball gyms before and after basketball games.”
Despite the mounds of evidence against the juveniles involved, all they received was a slap on the wrist.
According to a local news website, the boys were sentenced to five years probation with deferred adjudication. This means that if their probation is successfully completed, the court will dismiss the case. One of the boys is expected to complete 100 hours of community service, while the other three were given 200 hours.
A mother of one of the victims is not satisfied with the outcome and told Kens5 News,
“They should never have the opportunity to wipe this away like it never happened. Our children and their families can’t.”
As shocking and horrendous as their crimes are, the fact that these boys aren’t going to see any jail time shouldn’t surprise anybody.
From Brock Turner to the 16-year-old boy who admitted to committing rape but walked free because he “came from a good family”, the criminal justice system shows victims time and time again that they don’t matter.
RAINN states that most perpetrators will not go to jail. Out of 1,00 sexual assaults, only 230 are reported to the police. Out of that 230, an average of 4.6 perpetrators will receive jail time.
Additional plea hearings are set for October 21 and November 26, 2019, for the final five perpetrators in the case. It may sound pessimistic, but the additional hearings will most likely also result in the perpetrators walking away with the bare minimum.
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