(WHEATON) Five members of the Wheaton College football team are facing felony charges for allegedly hazing another team member in 2016 and leaving him “seriously injured.”
Arrest warrants were issued for the players: James W. Cooksey, a 22-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida; Samuel J. Tebos, a 22-year-old from Allendale, Michigan; Kyler S. Kregel, a 21-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan; Benjamin Pettway, a 21-year-old from Lookout Mount, Georgia; and Noah R. Spielman, a 21-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, according to a statement from the city of Wheaton.
The five players’ charges are aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and mob action, and their bonds were set at $50,000, according to the city’s statement.
Police responded about 11:20 p.m. March 19, 2016, to Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, where the victim said he was seriously injured when the five players attacked him and left him in a field with his limbs secured with tape, according to the city’s statement.
Wheaton College spokeswoman LaTonya Taylor said in an emailed statement that the college strives to provide an educational environment that is free of hazing and “practices our values as a Christian community,” and was therefore “deeply troubled” by the accusations.
Taylor said the college took “swift action” to investigate the allegations after the incident was brought to administrators’ attention by other football team members and coaches.
The school hired an independent, third party investigator to look into the accusations and took “a range of corrective actions,” Taylor said. The college withheld the details of the corrective actions, citing federal student privacy protections.
“The conduct we discovered as a result of our investigation into this incident was entirely unacceptable and inconsistent with the values we share as human beings and as members of an academic community that espouses to live according to our Community Covenant,” Taylor said. “We are profoundly saddened that any member of our community could be mistreated in any way.”
The college board of trustees launched a college-wide review of the effectiveness of its anti-hazing policy and the “culture around how students treat one another in our campus communities, athletic teams and organizations.”
The policy was revised in 2014 to require students to read and sign the policy each year, according to Taylor. It also requires annual training for residence assistants responsible for residence hall activities.
“Despite these deeply troubling charges, we have experienced positive changes on campus, including rapid responses from campus leaders to reports of hazing or other inappropriate behavior and effective disciplinary review,” Taylor said.
The players, as well as the victim’s attorney, Terry Ekl, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.