MEAD, Wash. — Five Mead High School students are accused of assault after an incident that happened last year at a summer football camp at Eastern Washington University (EWU).
Police reports show the assault happened last June, but it wasn't reported until the end of February, eight months later.
Overnight summer camp held at Eastern Washington University has been a yearly tradition for the Mead High School football team. Last year, it took place from June 19-22 and students in grades nine through 12 stayed in an on-campus dorm.
KREM 2 spoke with one man who is directly involved with one Mead player who says he was targeted by older players on the team. He's asked to not be identified.
He said the alleged assaults started off with some hazing, which went from verbal and racial remarks all the way up to an assault or multiple assaults.
But he told KREM 2 what is even more troubling is how the incident was handled by the Mead School District in the weeks and months after.
According to an EWU police case report from Feb. 23, the father of one player called to report an assault that happened back in June, indicating "younger students were hunted down/targeted for hazing purposed by upper classmen." The report states, "masked suspects came into one student's dorm room, grabbed another male subject and began sexually assaulting him."
Another report from a different parent says the victim was held down by upper classmen and sexually assaulted with a massage gun. Cell phone video obtained by KREM 2 from that night shows several teens holding someone down on the floor and another teen holding a massage gun.
Both parents say this and other videos were widely circulated among Mead High School students on social media. They also both told police it was "very probably more victims were also assaulted."
But nothing was reported to police until later February, eight months after the Mead football camp. According to detectives, the Mead High School principal says she first learned about the alleged assault on Feb. 20, when social media videos showing the assault as it happened surfaced.
District officials say they immediately notified the school resource officer and launched its own Title IX investigation. After that, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office took the lead in the criminal investigation.
According to state and federal law, anytime school officials become aware of an incident that could constitute sexual harassment, they must notify the district's Title IX Coordinator. The district then has to investigate, and if it finds the harassment did occur, the school must take prompt and effective steps to end the harassment, eliminate the hostile environment, prevent its recurrence and, as appropriate, remedy its effects.
Mead school officials would not agree to an on-camera interview with KREM 2, but did provide the district's internal investigation report stating Athletic Director John Barrington received an email from a parent about three weeks after camp, in early July. The parent's email reportedly said their child had a video that appeared to show an assault on a Mead player with a massage gun. But at the time, the school says the video only depicted "laughing, shouting and something resembling a "dogpile" on an individual," and that it was "hard to determine what was happening, apart from horseplay and/or roughhousing."
The district says Barrington and Head Football Coach Keith Stamps then agreed to talk to some of the students in the video, identifying them as "team leaders." According to the report, the students told Stamps they were just "screwing around" and that the targeted student said "things were all good" and that he "had a good time" at the camp.
At the time, the coach and athletic director did not report the behavior to district administrators. In fact, the district says it wasn't until almost six months later that a different parent showed them new videos that officials say "showed a much different (clearer) perspective of what had taken place in the dorm rooms."
On Dec. 11, 2023, Mead officials say the high school principal was notified about the video, amid "concerns that what had happened back in June, may be bigger than they thought."
It wasn't until Feb. 20 that the district says Principal Kimberly Jensen actually viewed the videos and informed the school's resource deputy and notified parents of the victims.
Marcus Sweetser is a Spokane attorney representing two families who say their sons were assaulted during last summer's football camp. In addition to the initial assault, he says the victims have experienced continued harassment and retaliation by teammates.
"This incident is now a marker in time for this child's entire life going forward, the day that everything changed. And so, what that tells me is these concerns were extremely significant and ongoing for these families."
Sweetser says he's concerned about how long it took for the school to notify parents about the video, and say's he's equally concerned that Mead's principal didn't view the video until two and a half months after she received it.
"We have a school district that has multiple incidences, involving multiple students, of sexual assault," he explained. "And the evidence, as far as we've been able to look at it so far, leads us to believe that the Mead School District staff was aware of it very quickly, actually had conversations within the school internally about the incidents, but for reasons only known to them, decided not to inform the parents of what they had learned."
Mead officials told KREM 2 they finished their internal investigation in late March, determining two students were assaulted during the EWU football camp on two separate occasions. Both incidents were reported as depicting the "typical characteristics of hazing" and "given the area of the body targeted, may represent sexual harassment assault."
District officials said each incident was dealt with on an individual basis, but admitted the videos showed a clear violation of the conduct expected from Mead students and athletes.
According to investigators, there was probable cause to charge five students, all under the age of 18, with fourth-degree assault. They determined there was no evidence of sexual motivation, so they did not pursue charges of sexual assault.
Because none of the suspects had a prior criminal history and fourth-degree assault is a gross misdemeanor, they were all referred to a diversion program. That means the kids agreed to certain conditions, and Spokane County Superior Court agreed not to file criminal charges as long as they meet those conditions.
The district announced it is holding an open meeting for current and future football families to ask questions of district officials about this investigation. It will take place at Mead High School on May 13.
The Eastern Washington University summer camp will take place again this summer, but for day trips only. The university said Mead students will no longer be able to spend the night on campus.
On Thursday night, a third victim from a 2022 incident came forward.
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