Preliminary hearing about ‘hazing’ incident moved, rescheduled
The hearing for a former Tamaqua Area High School football player charged in connection with the assault of two teammates has been pushed to a later date and reassigned to a different district court.
Zachary McGlinchey, 18, of Tamaqua, had a preliminary hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Tamaqua courtroom of Magisterial District Judge Stephen J. Bayer, but online court documents say it was rescheduled for 9:15 a.m. May 31 in front of Magisterial District Judge Thomas H. Xavios, Orwigsburg.
Bayer recused himself from the case, according to a courtroom official.
Xavios said Thursday that he received a court order from Schuylkill County President Judge Jacqueline L. Russell on April 13, saying the case was transferred to his courtroom. He was not provided a reason.
Calls to the Schuylkill County court administrator’s office weren’t returned.
McGlinchey was charged
March 28 with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault and three summary counts of harassment for allegedly attacking a juvenile in the “football house” owned by the school district.
Court documents state the victim told Tamaqua police Sgt. Thomas Rodgers that he was assaulted by several team members on Nov. 4, 2021, and during the attack, McGlinchey punched him in the face and forcefully “pushed a banana against his clothed anus.”
Rodgers said in the affidavit of probable cause that he met with the victim and his father at the Tamaqua Area School District building the night of the alleged assault. The district announced the following day that it would forfeit its District 11 semifinal football game.
Three students, including McGlinchey, were expelled in the incident, which board President Larry A. Wittig referred to as a “hazing” incident.
A juvenile was also charged with summary harassment in district court in connection to the incident, and two other juveniles were referred to county juvenile probation authorities, according to Schuylkill County District Attorney Michael A. O’Pake.
The district is the defendant in a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month by fathers of two of the alleged victims. They claim in the suit that Tamaqua Area failed to protect their children and took no action after the alleged sexual assaults.
O’Pake previously said that he doesn’t anticipate anyone else over 18 years old being charged.
If convicted, McGlinchey faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison for the misdemeanor offenses and 90 days in prison for the summary offense.