The bedroom community of La Vernia, TX (pop. 1,034) is primarily known for its quaint, small-town vibe, agricultural heritage, and annual Bluebonnet Fest, held each year in May.
But the sleepy southern enclave has just been rocked with an explosive hazing scandal involving over a dozen members of its high school football, baseball, and basketball teams.
A lawsuit has been filed against La Vernia High School and 13 male students between the ages of 16 and 18 have just been arrested in connection with hazing allegations of at least 10 young men dating back to 2015, MySanAntonio reports.
The 10 victims have come forward alleging initiation-style hazing that included sodomy and sexual assault with objects such as flashlights, Coke and Gatorade bottles, wire coat hangers, and the threaded end of a carbon dioxide tank.
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MySanAntonio reports:
According to the complaint filed by Texas Ranger Joel Kite, the three and an unnamed juvenile attacked a 15-year-old in February at a home near La Vernia, sodomizing him with a flashlight. The youth cried out and struggled, but he was overpowered and couldn’t stop the assault, the complaint alleges.
A second incident involved another 15-year-old victim who was allegedly pinned face down on the locker room floor and sexually assaulted with a Gatorade G2 bottle.
Shortly after that, a third vicim, also 15, was allegedly attacked in the locker room, forced to the ground, beaten, and fondled by two varsity players against his will. Two days later, the same victim was attacked a second time, this time by three varsity players. Not long after that, he was attacked a third time, this time in the shower room. The victim says he was held down and sodomized with a cardboard tube from a wire coat hanger.
A fourth victim allegedly had a metal pipe held up in front of his face in the school weight room and was told he was going to be raped with it. The assailant allegedly dropped the pipe the moment a coach walked in the room.
When a teacher learned of the attacks, she informed the then-athletic director, Brandon Layne, who told the kids what they were doing was “wrong” and to “cut it out” or “no girl will want to date you.”
No further disciplinary actions were taken. And so the problem continued.
According to the lawsuit:
The teams’ coaches have sanctioned these rituals, while other school officials, including La Vernia ISD and the School’s principal, athletic director, and coaches, turned a blind eye toward the abuse, even after the abuse was reported to them. Indeed, the Plaintiffs are but a fraction of the students who have been physically and sexually assaulted pursuant to these sadistic hazing rituals which include rape, sodomy, unlawful sexual penetration and sexual abuse.
The lawsuit lists the school district, superintendent, building principal, athletic directors and football coaches as defendants and seeks damages for “medical expenses” and “physical pain and mental anguish.”
The school superintendent, Jose Moreno, said the district learned about the lawsuit through news reports and “will continue working closely with the authorities as they conduct a full and thorough investigation.”
Related: Lake Zurich High School football team hazing rituals allegedly included forced sex acts
DCguy
Send them all to jail. The rapists and the people who knew it was going on and did nothing.
Last note: Of COURSE it was in Texas.
RIGay
I second that!
seaguy
And pair them up with cellmates who are just looking for someone they can turn into their bitch.
silveroracle
It is sickening.
Mack
And of course the response will be “boys will be boys”. This seem to be happening quite a bit in the “macho high school sports”.
cinderron
Poor little boys , can’t take a little man fun then get out !!! Real men can’t be raped !!!
Goforit
You are a hateful, ignorant PIG. Go away and let the grownups talk.
Drewc
What a stupid, ignorant and just plain dumb thing to say. I can’t believe morons like you are actually exist. No doubt you were some meathead in school that actually did stuff like this to someone smaller than you or it took a few of you to attack someone that one on one could have kicked your ass. Since you’re such a “real man” how about you go to prison and have this done to you. Then come back and tell us how fun it was. People like you make me ill.
Jack Meoff
What are the odds that the guys perpetrating these acts against the victims and sticking their penis in their ass will grow up to be homophobes.
Ken A.
No mention of penises in anus just bottles and cardboard tubes, double they could get it up to do it. Though they did fondled one of the boys.
gaym50ish
They got off easy. Some high-school athletes near my home were convicted of rape in a similar incident. Our state has sex-offender laws that will dog them all of their lives, requiring public notices whenever they move and listing in an online database of sex offenders.
Ken A.
New York state just changed youth offender age limit to under 18. So this would be the same punishment here in NY now, where previously they would be punished like adults.
Ken A.
I think everyone is over reacting. The coach may have thought that his command was enough, ignorant as it was. Did anyone stop doing anything because an authority figure said BECAUSE I SAID SO, Not I. He should have been much firmer in his admonishments. Boys will be boys. I know people don’t like that but yeah, that is how it is. This is the result of being against sex education in schools. I don’t mean the biological factors of sex education, I mean the nitty gritty really uncomfortable stuff that parents and teachers need to forget themselves and just dig in. They picked on the weaker ones and it should have stopped when they said they didn’t want to participate.
David
What amazes me is that school superintendent, Jose Moreno, said the district learned about the lawsuit through news reports. I’d say that’s a pretty good example of “turning a blind eye” to the problem.
A teacher reports it to the coaches and the principal and the Superintendent of the district is caught off guard when a lawsuit is filed?
Maybe someone should check to see if the bottled water the folks in La Vernia are drinking is from Flint Michigan.
David
To Ken A.
You think people are over reacting? Does your bottled water come from Flint Michigan?
crowebobby
Back in the 40’s, though I was just a child, I remember “He interfered with me” being presented as a legitimate justification for one boy killing another. Of course I was too young to verify this, but I remember the expression very well.