LISBON, Maine (WGME) — The Androscoggin County district attorney’s office says it will not be filing charges in connection with the hazing scandal involving Lisbon High School’s football team.
The DA’s office says much of what was disclosed was self-described by involved juveniles as “horseplay,” “goofing around,” and incidents involving voluntary participation.
There is no Maine statute that addresses hazing. The state reviews the conduct to determine whether any existing criminal statute has been violated.
After all interviews were complete, and after reviewing all the evidence collected and provided by the Lisbon Police Department, the DA’s office says the available evidence does not support the pursuit of criminal charges at this time.
Investigators uncovered what’s being described as a culture of hazing among upperclassmen on the Lisbon High School football team.
In October, administrators called for an independent investigation into possible hazing among players on the football team, which led to player suspensions and ultimately ended the season.
It started when administrators learned a freshman on the team was pinned to the floor and hit with a broomstick.
Superintendent Rick Green then had attorneys from the Drummond Woodsum law firm investigate, and they released the alarming findings of that investigation.
Freshmen players were poked with a broom, or forced to participate in belt fights, when the coaches weren’t around.
Forty students on the football team were interviewed with school officials or a parent present.
Attorneys conducting the investigation say most were visibly nervous and resistant to volunteer details.
That was not surprising, considering “school staff reported hearing football players tell their teammates not to tell the truth, not to cooperate and to ‘not say anything.’”
The investigation found upperclassmen humiliated, degraded, abused and endangered freshmen players in four distinct ways.
The investigation found upperclassmen swung open a chain link door separating the locker room “to trap younger players, poking some with a broom handle.
They found the broomstick in the upperclassmen’s locker room.
Attorneys also found “younger players were forced to participate in ‘belt battles,’ where players whipped each other with leather belts in the locker room, leaving a mark on at least one freshman.”
These belt fights were often recorded by a player and posted to the football team’s Snapchat.
The investigation found players on the football team also participated in wrestling matches before practice, with a junior stuffing a freshman headfirst into a garbage can.
The investigation found “each of these activities constitutes hazing under school policy and ‘indicates a culture of hazing and rough housing on the football team.’ They also fall within the scope of prohibited bullying by ‘inflicting bodily harm to threaten, intimidate, coerce, or harass another person.’”
Seven players were suspended from the team.
The superintendent said he’s made no decision on further discipline for the players, or if any coaching changes will be made.
The Lisbon athletic department is now taking multiple anti-hazing prevention steps.
In a report released Monday by school attorneys, the athletic director says the school is already making changes in an effort to prevent more hazing incidents.
Since the start of the investigation in October, athletes have had supervision at all times in locker rooms.
The high school is also looking into mandatory hazing prevention courses for all coaches and student athletes to take.
