Families Say They Will Sue Over Alleged Sodomy Hazing
Broomsticks, Pine Cones, Golf Balls Allegedly Used Against Players
POSTED: 8:57 a.m. EDT October 24, 2003
UPDATED: 3:09 p.m. EDT October 24, 2003
MINEOLA, N.Y. -- The three victims of an alleged sex attack by teammates on a Long Island high school football team have filed legal notices that they intend to sue the assailants, school officials and the school district.
David Woycik, who represents one of the victims, said Friday that the notices of claim needed to be filed in a timely manner to protect the rights of the three victims.
He emphasized that of more immediate concern "is that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice, that they're treated in the most severe way by the judicial system."
Woycik represents a boy who has since turned 14 and allegedly was abused along with two other teens by older players during an August training camp trip.
The lawyer said attorneys Robert Kelly and Michael Rubin, who represent the other two victims, also filed notices that they intend to sue.
Three varsity members of the Mepham High School football team have been charged with numerous felonies and misdemeanors in the alleged sex attack on younger players while the team was at a preseason camp in Preston Park, Pa.
The attacks allegedly involved the use of broomsticks, pine cones and golf balls. Woycik said he was told that some of the players brought broomsticks from Long Island to the camp.
Sixty players and five coaches attended the camp, which is about 125 miles north of Philadelphia. The coaches slept in a different cabin from students, and said they were unaware of any problems until a parent complained to the high school principal after returning to Long Island.
Woycik, who said the attack "amounted to sexual torture over four or five days" suggested one possible explanation for why the alleged attacks went unnoticed.
"The kids who did these acts, they brought stereos with them," he said. "So they would turn the music up very loud so no one could hear the screams and other things that were going on in that cabin."
A woman answering the phone at the office of Joseph Caramore, superintendent of Bellmore-Merrick School District, said the district had no comment on the legal filings. The school district canceled Mepham's entire football season after the allegations were revealed in early September.
Wayne County, Pa., District Attorney Mark Zimmer has said he would seek to have the players, two of them 16 and one 17, tried as adults. A hearing on Zimmer's request is scheduled for Nov. 12.
Woycik said he wants the suspects treated as adults.
"Besides the horrendous acts that were committed, they also threatened the young boys that if they told anyone they would kill them," he said. "When it rises to that level, you are ... putting people's lives in jeopardy and they should be judged accordingly."
Woycik said he was not familiar with published reports that there may have been other attackers besides the three who have been charged.