3 teens from NYC high school football team arrested for sexually abusing teammate; junior varsity seasons scrapped

The accused, two 14-year-old boys and a 13-year-old boy, were at the centre of an apparent hazing incident that took place in a locker room on school grounds in Midwood on Wednesday, around 5:20 pm after the team was left unsupervised. Per The New York Post’s exclusive report on Saturday, October 19 (US time), the teen trio allegedly forcefully pulled off their fellow 14-year-old teammate’s clothes and touched his “private area,” the NYPD and sources revealed.

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3 teens arrested and charged after sexually abusing their fellow high school JV football teammate

The three teens allegedly responsible for the attack on their high school football teammate were charged with forcible touching and unlawful imprisonment. Department of Education officials visited the school amid the ongoing investigation.

Consequently, the junior varsity football season has been cancelled. James Madison High School’s Golden Knights team was slated to go up against South Shore High School’s JB team on Sunday, October 20. However, the Public Schools Athletic League website now notes that the game has been forfeited early.

Amid the investigation, parents are equally in unknown territory. “I don’t really know what’s going on, and they’re not telling me,” a team player’s mother told the outlet.

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Other scandals attached to the NYC high school

The shocking development follows over a year after an enraged former James Madison boys’ football JV coach, Nicholas Nugents, allegedly smashed 14-year-old Shayson Willock’s head into a wall multiple times in September 2023 after he dozed off during a team video review. 

The coach was charged with multiple counts of felony assault, endangering the welfare of a child, harassment and menacing. Willock is said to have lost consciousness and needed six staples in his skull after the disturbingly bloody incident. This case is ongoing as well as the boy’s mom sued the former coach and the city for $2.5 million in August 2024.

The boys’ JV team is presently headed by Coach Jamil Thomas.

In addition to these unsettling cases, James Madison High School is no stranger to making headlines for its teachers being embroiled in unsavoury scandals.