Players testify to hazing sodomy

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Three freshman football players described to a judge Wednesday how they were sodomized with a broomstick allegedly wielded by older teammates during a training camp in August.

The allegations by the students from Robertson High School in Las Vegas came during the second day of emotional testimony in a preliminary hearing in Santa Fe.

The hearing will determine whether five remaining defendants should stand trial and be charged as adults for crimes that include sexual assault. A sixth defendant, Jarek Padilla, admitted guilt to rape and conspiracy charges just before the hearing began Tuesday in a plea deal that will have him sentenced as a juvenile.

There are clear tensions in the courtroom between families of the accused and those who say they were victims.

It is a case that is dividing Las Vegas. Prosecutors there handed the case off to the district attorney in Santa Fe to avoid conflicts of interest.

One Wednesday morning a 14-year-old freshman testified he used the bathroom in a cabin where upperclassmen stayed at the out-of-town camp.

For that the freshman said he was punished in what became a hazing ritual at the training camp.

"They grabbed me, and then they threw me on the bed," the boy testified. "They held my arms down, and I was trying to get away.

"And then Michael Gallegos told Jarek to go get the broom."

The two eventually let him go, he said.

"After Michael Gallegos said, 'Who's your daddy?' and then had to tell him he was and informed me to say sorry to them," the boy said.

Gallegos and the other four defendants have denied the charges.

The freshman also testified that the next day some of the coaches asked about the incident in front of the entire team and that the coaches laughed about it.

The coaches later resigned.

The hearing is expected to wrap up Wednesday after lawyers for the five teens call their own witnesses.

A lawyer for the alleged victims told KRQE News 13 he plans to file a civil lawsuit in this case later this year.