| Advertisement |
|
|
UPDATE: Fox59 News has learned charges have been filed against students on the Carmel High School basketball team in Hamilton County. According to the Hamilton County Clerk's office, those charges have been sealed.
Fox59 will carry a joint news conference live on the air and online Monday at 1:00 p.m.
PREVIOUS STORY:
As Fox59 first reported, four senior basketball players at Carmel High School could face misdemeanor battery charges for their role in a reported sexual assault case on a school bus following an away game in January.
The official charges, as well as the names of those players are all expected Monday, hopefully answering some of the many questions we've been asking for the past three and a half months.
The investigation into possible criminal conduct on the Carmel High School basketball team originally emerged from an incident in which three senior players are accused of sexually assaulting two freshman on a team bus returning from a January 22nd game at Terre Haute.
Those players were disciplined nearly a month later by the school, after a parent tipped off administrators.
The school didn't reveal much about the incident or the investigation in the days following that disciplinary action. As Fox59 News began to push for information, we spoke to a teacher who talked about the toll it took on the school.
"It's creating an atmosphere of mistrust between the student body and the administration," said the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous.
We also spoke exclusively to the father of a freshman basketball player who discussed the fear gripping the victims.
"There is a general fear, a fear for themselves a fear for their children for childen how they would be treated they fear repercussions," the parent said.
"They fear for their safety and security if they they choose to reamain in Carmel."
On Thursday February 24th, we anticipated bringing you answers, but a joint news conference between the school and Carmel Police only brought more questions.
As the investigation continued, we learned about a second incident inside a locker room on January 8th involving a fourth senior player. It set the stage for a bizarre senior night on February 25th in which all but one of the senior players had just been kicked off the team.
After two more weeks and no new answers Fox59 News sat down with Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp for her first interview regarding the alleged incident. Leerkamp defended the pace of the investigation and police reports and other documents that were largely blacked out revealing little.
"Well first of all think both doing very best to respond to situation and the other thing I really want your viewers to focus on is, what if this was your child, whether your child was the victim or yours who was the potential accused," said Leerkamp.
"How much would you want out there in the public for everyone to be making judgements on what happened to your particular child?"
At the time Leerkamp said it would likely be days or weeks before her office may file charges, but it was actually more than two months later, before investigators presented their information to a Hamilton County grand jury, which came to a decision on charges on Wednesday.
In addition to Monday’s announcement regarding these possible charges, the Carmel Clay School Board will also be meeting Monday night where they are expected to approve a new anti-hazing policy.