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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Saturday, August 16, 2008
H.S. Grid Camp Hazing Alleged
By Raam Wong
Journal Staff Writer
Six Robertson High School football players have been suspended from the program and the coaching staff has been placed on leave following allegations of hazing and rape at a preseason training camp earlier this week outside Las Vegas, N.M.
New Mexico State Police are investigating possible criminal wrongdoing, a spokesman said, while the owner of the camp in Gallinas Canyon said investigators visited a couple of the bunkhouses on Friday afternoon where the students stayed.
At least one student alleged that he was pinned to the ground and sodomized with a broomstick — an accusation that district superintendent Rick Romero said appeared to be mostly false, although he said “part” of the allegation could be true.
What did occur is still unclear, Romero said, but it seemed to have involved some form of hazing or initiation in which some students were held down against their will.
“The district is investigating acts of misconduct,” Romero told the Journal. Romero took over as the head of Las Vegas City Schools this summer.
Romero said the associate superintendent is investigating head coach Ray Woods and four other members of the football staff, as well as athletic director Mike Yara. All six have been suspended pending the investigation. Those who are regular employees with the district will be on paid leave, Romero said.
He said State Police began interviewing players as soon as the bus returned to campus early Thursday evening. They were supposed to have a pizza party, but instead were “contained” in classrooms during the interviews.
Woods, who is in his early 30s, was hired in January from New Mexico Highlands University, where he was a football assistant. He replaced Chad Roanhaus, who was hired to lead the Highlands team.
Roanhaus established a winning tradition at Robertson, with the Cardinals winning Class 3A state titles in 2005 and 2006 before losing to District 2-3A rival St. Michael's in the 2007 title game in December. Roanhaus said Friday that he didn't know anything about the alleged hazing.
“There's hazing all over the nation every year,” Roanhaus said. “There's always something, but not in my experiences.”
Six players were suspended from the team as of Friday morning, the superintendent said.
Romero said the alleged victims were not physically injured, though the district plans to mobilize community and school mental and physical health professionals to offer any necessary assistance.
The Cardinals football team arrived earlier this week for the two-a-day training camp. The practices were held at a mountain retreat on 12 wooded acres 15 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
“I have not seen a camp that was happier or better organized,” said Western Life Camp co-owner Mel Root, who stressed that the school — and not the camp — ran the program. “The coaches were around them all the time.”
There were about 45 players who slept in three or four bunkhouses, Root said. Root, whose daughter operates the camp, said he did know where the coaching staff slept.
Root said the players' good-natured demeanor had changed by the last day of the camp, Thursday, when the students and coaches seemed subdued. Root said State Police officers visited the retreat Friday afternoon as part of their investigation.
“I knew they were investigating something that went wrong at the camp,” Root said, adding that he did not know the nature of the incident.
Word of the alleged hazing spread quickly among parents as well as throughout the tight-knit community of Las Vegas after the players returned home Thursday night. While school and law enforcement officials say they don't yet have a handle on what exactly occurred, numerous community members interviewed Friday said they were shocked by the allegation about a broomstick assault, which several Las Vegas sources had heard about by Friday afternoon.
“To the best of my knowledge,” Superintendent Romero said, “that did not take place.”
State Police spokesman Lt. Eric Garcia said there have been no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.
Athletic director Yara and coach Woods could not be reached for comment.
Journal staff writer Phil Parker contributed to this report.