• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”
  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’
  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

13-Year-Old Colorado Hazing Victim Ostracized By Parents, Classmates

Daniel Villarreal June 25, 2013

In February 2012, three upperclassmen wrestling team members from the small town of Norwood, Colorado tied down their 13-year-old team manager with duct tape on an empty school bus and then sodomized him with a pencil.

NmAlthough Colorado law explicitly requires school employees to report child abuse to the police or social services, the victim's father — who was also the school's principal — reported the assault to the school's Superintendent David Crews and to the school board's vice president Robert Harris (who was also the school's wrestling coach and the father of two of the assailants).

The principal says he did not initially inform the police and recused himself from implementing any disciplinary action in hopes that school officials would properly address the matter. But when Crews only gave the assailants a one-day in-school suspension and the victim's father's complaints to the school board fell on deaf ears, the father reported the sexual assault to the police nearly a month after it took place. 

Continued, AFTER THE JUMP…

NorwoodFrom Bloomberg via  The Denver Post:

After the principal reported the incident to police, townspeople forced him to resign. Students protested against the victim at school, put "Go to Hell" stickers on his locker and wore T-shirts that supported the perpetrators…

… Jessica Bicknase, identified in a police report as the mother of one of the accused, paid to print T-shirts that bore a slogan using the initials of the suspects… A dozen students wore the T-shirts to school one Friday, and someone posted a sign with the same wording on the locker of the victim's brother…

Students who wore the t-shirts told police they wanted to support their friend. The victim told investigators he didn't understand why his friends would support people who attacked him.

When police visited the parents of students involved in the T-shirt incident… the parents instead focused on attacking the principal…

"They blamed our victim," said Lynn Kimbrough, a spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney's office  which brought the charges against the three students. "There was this huge backlash, and everybody turned against this boy and his family for bringing trouble to their town."

After the T-shirt incident, the principal decided to stop sending his son to school, and instead brought his assignments home.

On April 23, police arrested the three boys on juvenile charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and false imprisonment. One of the boys later plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sexual contact without consent and the two others plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault — "sentences that included probation, community service and restitution of about $2,500 apiece."

After the ordeal, the school implemented more staff training about hazing and established an anonymous tip line to report hazing. The wrestling coach received a letter of reprimand for leaving students unsupervised on a bus and was reinstated as the school's wrestling coach.

The school board reached a settlement with the principal and renewed his contract. He now works in a town 200 miles away from Norwood, earning half of his previous salary. His now 14-year-old son has joined the wrestling team at a new school and finished an undefeated season. He's now weightlifting and playing as a member of his new school's football team.

The Bloomberg article adds that 10 percent of high school males have reported being sexually assaulted by another male. One expert says such cases becoming more frequent, brutal and sexually violent and another posits that assailants will often assault younger boys in a desire to prove their masculinity. 

In related news, the numbers of male-on-male sexual harassment charges and male military sexual assault victims are increasing as well.

Topics: News More Posts About: bullying, Colorado, Colorado, education, Hazing, News

Related Posts
  • Russia Blocks Facebook, Accusing it of Restricting Access to Russian Media;
  • Duran Duran Has New Music And You Are About To Enjoy it. It’s 2021. Seriously.
  • ‘Mayor Pete’ Trailer; Papa Pete Pwns Tucker; 4-Stars for Dr. Rachel Levine; JoJo Siwa’s Perfect 10s; Lynda Carter’s 8 Wonder-full Words: GOOD NEWS
  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jeff Richmond and Tina Fey want the ‘Mean Girls’ musical movie to have a “fresher palette”. The pair are adapting their musical for the big screen and composer Jeff revealed his …Read More »
  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents. The 61-year-old actress had been friends with Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell – who are the parents of pop star Billie, …Read More »
  • Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Published by AFP The US city of Memphis, Tennessee, on January 27, 2023, released footage of the fatal police beating of a 29-year-old Black man, Tyre Nichols Washington (AFP) – The shocking death of Tyre Nichols …Read More »
  • Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Published by DPA Pope Francis speaks during the general audience at the Pope Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. Michael Kappeler/dpa Pope Francis has clarified his earlier comments on homosexuality following confusion in recent days, saying: …Read More »
Previous Post: « Adam Lambert Sings National Anthem at Record-Breaking ‘Broadway Bares’: VIDEO
Next Post: Song for a Steamy Day: Empire of the Sun’s ‘I’ll Be Around’: LISTEN »

Primary Sidebar

Adjacent News

  • Secrets about Catholic priest’s 1966 murder unearthed by reporters in Buffalo

    Secrets about Catholic priest’s 1966 murder unearthed by reporters in Buffalo

  • Booker says he’ll keep trying to pass weed legislation even with House Republicans in charge

    Booker says he’ll keep trying to pass weed legislation even with House Republicans in charge

  • Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition blacklisting sparks outcry

    Madison Square Garden’s facial recognition blacklisting sparks outcry

Good Trash: Going to Read It Somewhere, Y'know

  • ‘Gone Their Separate Ways’: Ryan Reynolds & Jake Gyllenhaal’s Pals Left Scratching Their Heads Over Bizarre Bromance Fallout 

    ‘Gone Their Separate Ways’: Ryan Reynolds & Jake Gyllenhaal’s Pals Left Scratching Their Heads Over Bizarre Bromance Fallout 

  • Steamy! Miranda Lambert Shows Off Shirtless Husband Brendan McLoughlin To Celebrate Their Anniversary

    Steamy! Miranda Lambert Shows Off Shirtless Husband Brendan McLoughlin To Celebrate Their Anniversary

  • ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Leon Brown Debuts Gender-Affirming Top Surgery Seven Months After Announcing New Pronouns

    ‘Sister Wives’ Alum Leon Brown Debuts Gender-Affirming Top Surgery Seven Months After Announcing New Pronouns

RSS Partner Links

  • Sunday Comics
  • 'The View' for the Week of January 30 - 4 Guest Stars Revealed
  • Olivia Wilde And Jason Sudeikis Publicly Hug After Getting Messy During Their Custody Fight
  • Novak Djokovic defeats Stefan Tsitsipas to win 10th Australian Open and 22nd grand slam overall
  • The Telegraph published a photo to ‘exonerate’ Prince Andrew from rape, trafficking
  • Prince William & Kate are getting cooked for their foodbank poverty tourism
  • Jim Jordan Says New Laws Can't 'Stop That Evil' After Tyre Nichols' Death

Most Recent

  • Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”

    Modern Family’s Julie Bowen Crushing On Harry Styles; Reveals She Was Once In Love With A Gay Woman, “but she didn’t love me back”

  • Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

    Mean Girls musical movie will have a ‘fresher palette’

  • Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

    Jennifer Coolidge went to the wedding of Billie Eilish’s parents

  • Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

    Efforts since George Floyd killing fail to stem US police violence

  • Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

    Pope Francis clarifies earlier comments: Homosexuality ‘not a crime’

  • Rick Astley: I wasn’t cut out to be a pop star

    Rick Astley: I wasn’t cut out to be a pop star

  • Universal Pictures Loses Over $10 Million By Scrapping Madonna’s Biopic: Source

    Universal Pictures Loses Over $10 Million By Scrapping Madonna’s Biopic: Source

  • Spice Girls to reunite for King Charles’ coronation

    Spice Girls to reunite for King Charles’ coronation

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

Footer

Copyright © 2023 · Log in

×