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The Raton High School boys’ varsity basketball tean nearly had its season brought to an abrupt end following an alleged hazing incident last month during a bus trip home from games in Taos, The Raton Range reported.
Two varsity players allegedly engaged in inappropriate contact with three other players, including members of the junior varsity team, according to a State Police report released late last week, The Range said.
According to the report, one of the varsity players held each of the younger players down while the other put his groin in the victim’s face, the paper reported. The players were fully clothed during the incidents, the report said.
School Superintendent Dave Willden told The Range that head coach Gilbert San Roman was so upset by the alleged hazing by two junior-class members of the team he was ready to cancel the rest of the season but that senior players on the team convinced him to continue the season.
The two junior members of the varsity were suspended from school for three days and suspended from the team for two games, The Range said.
The players have not been charged with any crime, but the State Police report said the hazing could involve such offenses as criminal sexual contact of a minor, accessory and conspiracy, according to The Range.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Sanchez, who heads the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office Raton office, told the paper he hadn’t received the State Police report but said the Juvenile Probation Office would review the report and then make a recommendation to the DA’s Office on whether the case should be prosecuted.
