SAYREVILLE, N.J. — As uneasiness and an eerie silence engulfed this Central Jersey township Saturday following the arrests of seven members of the 2014 Sayreville football team accused of crimes that included criminal sexual assault and hazing, the mother of a current sophomore player told the Daily News her son just revealed to her that he was the victim of similar abuse last year.
“Same stuff, it’s disgusting,” said the mom, who, like most people in this shattered and divided town, refused to give her name for fear of reprisal. “It’s not what a mother wants to hear.”
Meanwhile, the six teens arrested Friday night and a seventh – who turned himself in Saturday morning after being sought by police Friday night – were being detained Saturday and will have to appear before a family court judge at a date that had yet to be determined.
A source told The News it’s likely the seven teens were sent from the Sayreville Police Department to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center about 15 miles away in North Brunswick.
A joint statement from county prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Sayreville Police Chief John Zebrowski said “seven juveniles have been charged with juvenile delinquency arising from the attacks upon four victims in four separate incidents at Sayreville War Memorial High School.”
The statement said “three of the juveniles were charged with aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, conspiracy to commit aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal restraint and hazing for engaging in an act of sexual penetration upon one of the juvenile victims.”
On Wednesday, two nights after superintendent Richard Labbe announced the football season had been cancelled due to the hazing allegations, NJ.com, quoting a parent of one of the victims, detailed the alleged attacks, saying they would begin with a howling signal, and that the lights in the locker room would then go off. Then, the victim would be held down, and eventually stood up where a finger would be inserted into his rectum and sometimes into his mouth.
The mother who spoke to The News said she heard of the abuse toward her son and other players only over the last few days. She said she had a “sitdown, once and for all” and that she asked for the real deal from her son.
While unwilling to provide specific details of what her son told her or how in particular he had been molested, the mother nodded as graphic details surrounding the current allegations were read to her.
She said her son had not given her the names of the teammates who performed the alleged assaults. Her statement is sure to cause more unrest in a town that seems to be stuck between dealing with the reality of the heinous charges and a fear of what’s coming next. While football was being played all over the state, Sayreville’s streets were empty on a rainy Saturday, much as they were the night before, when the Bombers had been scheduled to host Monroe in their annual homecoming game. Only a marching band practice and a varsity girls soccer game at the high school were signs of normalcy.
“Nobody knows whose door is going to get knocked on next,” said a source with close ties to the football program. “A lot of people are very nervous around here right now.”
The source said the nervousness stems from the possibility that those who have been arrested will implicate others, whether they are involved or not, in an attempt to spread the blame around.
Earlier Saturday, Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O’Brien announced the formation of the Sayreville Coalition of Community Leadership “to help in the healing process.”
A vigil for the victims will be held in a park across the street from the high school Sunday night, but according to the mom who spoke to The News, it could be a long time before the healing begins.
Describing the atmosphere among team parents as a “war,” she said on one side are parents who feel that players who have nothing to do with the allegations are being victimized with the loss of the season.
On the other side are parents like herself, horrified over the idea their children have been intimidated and abused. “I’m not getting it,” she said, shaking as she spoke. “These are our kids. Maybe some of us could have said something, done something.”
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