NJ Student Hazing Incidents Happened Repeatedly, Attorney Says

WALL, NJ — Hazing in the Wall High School football locker room was not an isolated incident and instead occurred repeatedly to multiple students, an attorney for three victims said Thursday, calling what happened in September and October "toxic, criminal and disgusting."

An unspecified number of students have been charged with hazing, attempted criminal sexual contact, criminal sexual contact, false imprisonment and harassment in connection to incidents that happened in September and October, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said Monday. The prosecutor's office has not identified them because they are juveniles.

In one reported incident, one student was "held down by four or five of his supposed teammates while they try to probe him with a broom or their fingers while they're struggling to get away," said Armen McOmber, from McOmber McOmber & Luber in Red Bank, in a phone interview with Patch.

McOmber said this was not the only case of its kind at Wall High School.

"The fact that it happened in a school locker room repeatedly, again and again and again to different people, it's criminal negligence. It's so incredibly hard to believe that that took place in the school again and again and again," he said.

An NJ.com report said the hazing attacks specifically targeted sophomores on the football team.

Videos of hazing incidents reportedly have circulated in the community since October. On Monday, an NJ.com report described the content of one video that was shared with the publication's reporters. That report said the 14-second video shows four players holding the victim in the air, two trying to keep his legs spread apart.

Then, as the victim is on the floor, a fifth attacker appears to poke him between his legs with a broomstick. At least four other players were watching, the report on the video said.

“There is absolutely nothing sexual about anything that happened in the videos or in the locker room. This was wrestling and horsing around by 15-, 16- and 17-year-old boys – all dressed – before football practice in front of the coaches. The coaches witnessed this behavior and saw it for what it was – sophomoric, not sexual," said Christopher Adams, an attorney defending one of the accused students, in a statement to Patch.

Adams called the criminal sexual contact charges baseless and said they are "not only unsupported by the facts, but nothing more than playing politics and pandering to the media."

"To describe what happened is horseplay or hijinks or wrestling is just outrageous," McOmber said in response to Adams' comments. "Actually kind of scary that an adult in the United States would take a look at that and call that horseplay."

"He doesn't take it seriously, I guess Wall Township, the board (of education) doesn't take it seriously," McOmber said.

Three coaches at the school and athletic director Tom Ridoux were put on leave in November in the midst of the investigation, but no criminal charges have been filed against any adults in connection with the investigation.

McOmber declined to comment on whether or not coaches were present for any of the incidents. A representative of the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office said the office declined to comment on Adams' allegation.

Emails and telephone messages left for a representative of the New Jersey Education Association, which has provided attorneys for the coaches, were not answered as of 4 p.m.

McOmber blamed the Wall Board of Education and the administration for the "environment that they allowed in their school" and called them "insanely negligent."

"To allow this sort of thing to continue multiple multiple times it really it speaks to just a complete lack of supervision or caring about these student-athletes," he said. "I don't think they took it seriously."

At the November Board of Education meeting, many current and former students spoke of their experiences in Wall High School, describing a culture of harassment spanning decades.

Superintendent Tracy Handerhan said accusations that officials were sweeping the incident under the rug were "absolutely false" and that they could only act based on the information they were provided, repeating that the school district contacted the appropriate authorities upon hearing the allegations.

"Initially, despite actively seeking information surrounding the rumors, nothing concrete emerged. We did not stop there. We continued to actively investigate," Handerhan said.

Seven Wall High School students were suspended for 10 days in November for "hazing & conduct unbecoming of a student." It was unclear how many — if any — of the suspensions were related to the hazing and sexual assault investigations by the prosecutor’s office.

Have a news tip, correction or comment? Email catarina.moura@patch.com.