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Robert Kitzinger was sentenced to one year probation and 40 hours of community service on Monday for his role in battering a fellow Carmel High School basketball team member in the school locker room.
Kitzinger told the judge he didn't have an excuse for his behavior. He also said he did not want to be defined by the incident.
Kitzinger now attends Trinity College in San Antonio, TX. He plays basketball for them and has plans to mentor local high school students about the perils of hazing.
The plea came hours after the Hendricks County Prosecutor filed charges against Kitzinger and teammate Brandon Hoge in a seperate alleged incident.
Investigators say a freshman basketball player, not involved in the locker room incident, was attacked last winter after an away game in Terre Haute.
In a probable cause affidavit filed Monday, the teenager told school personnel that the seniors called him to the back of the bus, grabbed him and pushed him down on Jan. 22th. He said he felt a hand go into his butt and also that Kitzinger sat on his head.
The affidavit goes on to state, that several others on the bus saw Kitzinger and Brandon Hoge holding the student down and touching his butt. Reports of other students on the bus vary on what they observed, from tickling to attempts to pull off the student's pants, to hands placed down his pants.
Due to the fact the alleged incident occurred aboard a bus while the bus was traveling through Hendricks County, the prosecutor there charged Kitzinger and Hoge with battery. That's a class B misdemeanor.
Related to the Hamilton County charges, Oscar Falodun pleaded guilty to one count of criminal recklessness and was sentenced to a year on probation and 40 hours of community service last week. Scott Laskowski also pleaded guilty last month to criminal recklessness and received the same sentence as his other two former teammates.
Hoge is set to go to trial in Hamilton County on Feb. 24th, 2011.