What to Know
- Six of the seven football players charged in disturbing locker room hazing incidents at a New Jersey high school have agreed to plea deals, sources with direct knowledge of the juvenile case confirmed
- Wall Township High School football team members faced criminal charges including hazing, attempted criminal sexual contact, criminal sexual contact, false imprisonment and harassment for the incidents that occurred inside the locker room between Sept. and Oct. 2021
- The plea deal will see the most serious charges of criminal sexual contact and false imprisonment dropped, while the six teens plead guilty to juvenile hazing and harassment, sources told News 4
Six of the seven football players charged in disturbing locker room hazing incidents at a New Jersey high school have agreed to plea deals, sources with direct knowledge of the juvenile case confirmed to NBC New York.
The members of the Wall Township High School football team faced criminal charges — including hazing, attempted criminal sexual contact, criminal sexual contact, false imprisonment and harassment — for the incidents that occurred inside the locker room between September and October 2021.
The plea deal will see the most serious charges of criminal sexual contact and false imprisonment dropped, while the six teens plead guilty to juvenile hazing and harassment, sources told News 4. The more serious charges will be dropped after the players do community service and complete a probation period, the sources said.
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A seventh player charged in the scandal, who also faces sexual assault in separate incidents outside of school, was not offered a plea deal, sources said.
Christopher Adams, an attorney for one of the players charged, previously said the hazing was "sophomoric behavior by 15, 16 and 17 year old boys before football practice in front of the coaches — if there was anything sexual the coaches would have stopped it but they didn't because it was nothing more than horseplay."
Four students were suspended in late 2021 by school administrators. The student suspensions also came after the high school's athletic director was placed on administrative leave, multiple coaches were suspended and games were canceled. It followed multiple heated school board meetings that took place since the allegations came to light earlier in November.
The prosecutor's office launched an investigation into the locker room incident in which parents say was captured on cellphone video.
"We are hopeful that the lessons gleaned from this case foster a renewed focus on actively teaching juveniles in all of our schools what conduct crosses the line of acceptability, and what students must do if they are a bystander or victim of hazing, harassment, intimidation, or bullying," a prior release from Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey said.
At one of the meetings in the fall, many angry parents wanted to know why they found about about the allegations from the news and not the school, asking when district officials first found out. Among the people who took to the mic were former students who say hazing has long been part of the school and that they were bullied years ago.
A total of three coaches for the Wall High School football team were suspended, sources told NBC New York, including head coach and business teacher Tony Grandinetti. He and two others were placed on administrative leave.
So far, one school board member has resigned, citing the hazing allegations as the reason.
