Report: Wheaton College Football Players Hazed Freshman In 2016, Still Played This Season

Five Wheaton College (Ill.) football players, including the son of Fox Sports football analyst Chris Spielman, were charged Monday with felonies after they allegedly hazed and beat a freshman in 2016 and left him half-naked on a baseball field.

The that Kyler Kregel, James Cooksey, Benjamin Pettway, Samuel TeBos, and Noah Spielman face charges of aggravated battery, mob action, and unlawful restraint. There are arrest warrants out for all five men, who are expected to turn themselves in.

According to documents from the school’s investigation, the 19-year-old victim was kidnapped from his dorm room on March 19, 2016. The players used duct tape to restrain him and put him in a teammate’s vehicle. From the Tribune:

After the vehicle began moving, the players 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 freshman 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 freshman onto a baseball diamond, according to his account. The players threw dirt on the teen, took his cell phone and left him half-naked on the field, he said.

The victim reportedly suffered bruises and needed surgery for tears to both of his shoulders. He transferred out of Wheaton after the incident.

Spielman, Pettway, and Kregel are all still on the football team’s roster, and played in Saturday’s game against Carthage College.

According to the Tribune, the school had hired a third party to investigate the hazing last year, and punished “several players” with 50 hours of community service and an eight-page essay assignment about their behavior.

[ Chicago Tribune]

H/t to Jim