Wheaton players face felonies in attack on teammate

CHICAGO » Five members of a Christian college football team in suburban Chicago face felony charges after one of their teammates alleged they duct-taped his hands and feet and attempted to sodomize him with an object before dumping him half-naked in an off-campus park.

The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office announced Monday that the five Wheaton College players are charged with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint.

A judge signed arrest warrants and set $50,000 bonds for the players, who are expected to turn themselves in.

Authorities said Kyler Kregel, 21, a senior, of Grand Rapids, Michigan surrendered to police Tuesday evening. The other players are expected at the Wheaton Police Department sometime this week. State’s attorney spokesman Paul Darrah said the most serious charge — aggravated battery — carries a maximum sentence of two to five years in prison.

Terry Ekl, an attorney representing the alleged victim, his client was attacked on March 19, 2016, while he was watching basketball on television from his dorm room on campus, about 30 miles west of Chicago. Ekl said the teammates tackled him, bound his hands behind his back with duct tape, put a pillowcase over his head and punched him when he yelled at them to stop.

Ekl said the student, a freshman at the time who is now 20 years old, alleges the five put him in the back seat of a car. With Middle Eastern music playing, he alleged, they made offensive comments about Muslims and told him that he was being kidnapped by Muslims who wanted to have sex with goats and that he would be their “goat” for the night.