A teenage girl claims in a civil lawsuit that she was raped multiple times last year by three Culver City High School football players, who also recorded one of the rapes, shared the video with other students, and tried to intimidate her into not reporting what happened. The suit was filed last week and named the the Culver City Unified School District, football player Jeremy Weaver, and two unnamed football players, who are still minors.
The suit claims that the attacks happened between Dec. 4 and Dec. 22 of 2013 at the Los Angeles-area school. The girl, identified in the suit by the initials A.S., was 14 years old, a freshman, and a virgin. She was in her English class, and Weaver and Student A invited her to hang out in the parking lot and listen to music, according to the suit.
Unexpectedly, both individuals sexually assaulted, orally copulated, and vaginally raped A.S.
The next day, Weaver again forced her to "engage in sexual acts," this time with the help of Student B, the suit said. She was "repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted" for several days on school grounds and during school hours. The lawsuit provides this summary of the various ways the players attacked her:
... forcing A.S.'s head onto ASSAILANTS' penis; raping A.S.; sexually "tag-teaming' A.S.; forcing A.S. to perform oral sex and other sex acts with ASSAILANTS while other(s) were watching; Surreptitiously video-taping A.S. while she was forced to commit these sexual acts; disseminating the video-images throughout the school to other students; spreading malicious rumors regarding A.S.'s "sexual promiscuity"; threatening A.S. if she told anyone of the incident; verbally and emotionally harassing A.S. following the incident; and physically intimidating A.S. following the incident.
The girl reported the rapes to school officials, but believes that those officials then alerted Weaver and Student B, according to the suit. Afterward, "Weaver and Student B confronted A.S. in an attempt to coerce her to lie and recant her allegations," the suit says. As for criminal charges, Culver City police told the Los Angeles Times that Weaver was the only student arrested or charged.
He was charged with four felony counts—three counts of illegal sex acts with a minor and one count of dissuading a witness, Culver City police said. He was convicted on one count of illegal sex acts with a minor, and all the other charges were dismissed or not prosecuted. ... Weaver served no jail time but was sentenced to five years' formal probation and ordered to stay away from the victim, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
A.S. changed schools "in order to escape the relentless bullying, humiliation and trauma of having to go to school with her abusers." She eventually moved to Chicago, has attempted suicide, and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the suit.
Superintendent Dave Larose said in a statement that the school district "responded immediately and cooperatively to this incident with the Culver City Police Department." Lacrose didn't comment on the specific allegations in the lawsuit, but said "our District will remain unwavering in our commitment to protect the children we serve and respond aggressively to any action that challenges this priority."
Image via Wikipedia