Sex abuse case may spell end of football at New Jersey high school

By Dan Kelley (Reuters) - The superintendent of a New Jersey school district that canceled this year's high school football season amid a hazing case that led to sexual assault charges said on Monday he is considering suspending the program in future years as well. Seven football players face charges of sex abuse of four victims who were freshman players on four occasions in September, according to prosecutors in Middlesex County, New Jersey. The allegations, which surfaced last week, prompted officials to cancel the season for the freshman, junior varsity and varsity football teams at Sayreville War Memorial High School. The school, which has about 1,700 students, is considered a football powerhouse. On Monday, Superintendent Richard Labbe said more cancellations may lie ahead. "I will say clearly: Whether we have a football program moving forward is certainly a question in my mind," Richard Labbe told ABC News. "Based upon the severity of the charges, I'm not sure." Three of the Sayreville players are charged with aggravated sexual assault, and four are charged with aggravated assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact and other crimes. Prosecutors say the victims were held against their will while other juveniles touched them. New Jersey Advance Media, citing interviews with victims, reported that the freshman players were held down while other players inserted fingers into their rectums and then their mouths. "If those allegations are true, that's not hazing. That's not bullying. That's sexual assault," said Vito Gagliardi, former commissioner of the state's Department of Education. The teens, aged 15 to 17, were expected to make a court appearance this week. The district is investigating whether harassment or bullying occurred in other extracurricular programs. The most serious charges of aggravated sexual assault carry possible sentences of five years of juvenile detention. If they are prosecuted as adults, the sentence could be up to 20 years in prison. Anthony Palumbo, a criminal defense lawyer who said he has consulted with the parents of one of the accused teens, said prosecutors were likely reviewing whether any adults knew of the incidents. "Did they know? Should they have known?" he said. "My guess is that's what the prosecutor's office is looking at very carefully." (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Eric Walsh)