College suspends five players in hazing case that injured freshman

WHEATON, Ill. — Five Wheaton College (Ill.) football players charged this week in a 2016 hazing incident have been suspended from practice and games, the college said Tuesday.

“The players have been deemed inactive for practice or competition by the college’s administration and coaching staff,” college spokeswoman LaTonya Taylor said in an email.

Players James Cooksey, Kyler Kregel, Noah Spielman, Benjamin Pettway and Samuel TeBos were charged Monday with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint after being accused of a hazing incident in which authorities said a freshman teammate was restrained with duct tape, beaten and left half naked with two torn shoulders on a baseball field.

The freshman teammate’s lawyer told the Tribune that the evangelical Christian school near Chicago needs to be transparent about how it’s handling the situation.

“It appears to me that no meaningful discipline was implemented against any of these boys by the college or the football program,” attorney Terry Ekl said. “The school and the football staff should have to explain that to the public.”

The Thunder, a Division III program ranked fourth in the nation, are scheduled to play at Elmhurst College on Saturday. Three of the five accused athletes played in last week’s victory over Carthage College.

Kregel, 21, a second-team All-American center from Grand Rapids, Mich., turned himself in to Wheaton police late Tuesday afternoon.

He arrived at the station with his parents and an attorney, posted $5,000 bail and was given an Oct. 23 date for his arraignment.

His lawyer, Christine Field, declined to comment on the allegations, saying they will argue the case in court.

“There’s always more to the story,” Field said.

Spielman, 21, from Columbus, Ohio, also turned himself in and posted bail Tuesday night. His attorney, Mark Sutter, released this statement:

“Noah Spielman was shocked to hear of these charges after an investigation by Wheaton College exonerated him over one year ago. Regardless, Noah has willingly surrendered to law enforcement to face these allegations, and he will continue to cooperate with authorities moving forward. Mr. Spielman and his family have full faith and confidence in the legal process and the DuPage County criminal justice system.”

The other players—Pettway, 21, from Lookout Mountain, Ga.; Cooksey, 22, of Jacksonville, Fla.; and TeBos, 22, of Allendale, Mich.—are expected to turn themselves in to authorities this week.

Rather than go to the west suburban campus and arrest the athletes, Wheaton police said they allowed the players to turn themselves in because they had all been cooperative with the investigation and were not considered a threat to public safety.

Messages left by the Tribune with the players or their families were not immediately returned.

All five were notified of the charges Monday evening, Wheaton Deputy police Chief Bill Murphy said.

The players do not have prior public criminal records, according to available public records in their home states.

Murphy described a lengthy investigation that included numerous witnesses and unusual circumstances.

“There were a lot of things in play from the get-go,” he said. “There were a lot of people involved, from suspects to the victim to other witnesses. All the students left the school in May to go home for the summer as well. There were a lot of interviews, fact finding, getting medical records and other issues. We had hours and hours of audio statements to transcribe. It was a lot of work, and we didn’t rush the investigation.”

A second football player was also targeted in a hazing incident that night, but he was not injured and did not file a complaint, Murphy said. The player is still on the team roster.

Attempts to reach the second player were not successful.

Wheaton College has called the hazing incident “unacceptable” and contrary to the school’s religious values.

The student told investigators that he was watching the NCAA basketball tournament in a dorm room on March 19, 2016, when several teammates entered the room and tackled him, according to investigative records obtained by the Tribune. The freshman kicked his legs and yelled at them to stop, only to be punched and have his bare legs and wrists wrapped in duct tape, he said.

The players put a pillowcase over the 19-year-old’s head and took him from the residence hall. Though there was a “root beer kegger” taking place in the dorm that night, no students or college employees intervened as he was carried out of the building, according to the records.

The freshman told investigators that he was placed in the back seat of a teammate’s vehicle and held down by at least two players while others piled into the vehicle. After the vehicle began moving, they played Middle Eastern music and made offensive comments about Muslims, according to the victim’s account.

At one point, the players suggested to the freshman that he had been kidnapped by Muslims who wanted to fornicate with goats, the teen told investigators. They patted his foot and suggested he would be their “goat” for the evening, the records said.

The teen told investigators that his teammates restrained him with more duct tape during the drive, pulled down his shorts and underwear, then repeatedly tried to insert an object into his rectum. After the freshman yelled at them to stop, he was beaten, he said.

The players drove to a park located off campus and carried the 19-year-old onto a baseball diamond, according to his account. The players threw dirt on the teen, took his cellphone and left him half naked on the field, he said.

The freshman, who went to the hospital and spoke with police officers later that night, suffered two labrum tears that required surgery, authorities said. He withdrew from the school a short time later.

Wheaton College hired an outside party to investigate and deemed the incident “entirely unacceptable and inconsistent with the values we share as human beings.” The school said it took “corrective actions” with the athletes, but a spokeswoman declined to describe them.

Sources told the Tribune that several players were required to perform 50 hours of community service and write an eight-page essay reflecting on their behavior.