ASHLAND — Three members of the Ashland High School football team and a fourth teenager have been charged after an investigation into hazing that involved attempted sexual assaults at a summer football camp, police said.
Ashland police said Thursday that all four were charged with coercion, two were charged with conspiracy, and one, who is not a student at the school, was charged with attempted sexual penetration with a finger.
The fourth youth was a 17-year-old who had practiced with the team and attended a football camp with the team in June at Linfield College in McMinnville,.
The Ashland Police Department said it got a complaint in July. A school official said the football coach, Charlie Hall, originated it.
“As far as we can substantiate, there were four incidents of an attempted digital penetration and several students were coerced into doing something that can be described as being embarrassing and degrading under pressure from a few members of the football team,” said Detective Sgt. Tighe O’Meara.
All four suspects have been released pending appearances in juvenile court. Some of the hearings have been scheduled for next week.
A police statement said the investigation “did not indicate any longstanding pattern of hazing or coercion with the Ashland High School football program.”
Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said the school district also would investigate. She said Hall had reported the abuse to the Department of Human Services, as required.
