Student admits guilt in sexual hazing

SANTA FE (KRQE) - A former Robertson High School football player pleaded guilty Tuesday to raping younger players during a hazing incident at a pre-season training camp.

As part of a plea agreement Jarek Padilla will not be sentenced as an adult. He also could be called to testify against five former teammates who still face charges from the August incident.

Padilla pleaded guilty as a minor to charges of rape and conspiracy.

The hazing, alleged to include older players sodomizing younger ones with a broom handle, happened at an out-of-town camp. New Mexico State Police were waiting when the team returned to Las Vegas by bus.

Padilla's surprise plea came at the start of a preliminary hearing for the accused teens. The hearing is being held in Santa Fe after prosecutors in Las Vegas handed the case to another jurisdictions because of conflicts of interest.

When the hearing began, the boys on the team who say they were assaulted by the six, gave emotional testimony as they described what they said happened to them.

The first witness, a sophomore, claimed the first attack started when he and a junior taunted each other through a cabin wall. Other witnesses called it trash talk over girlfriends.

The sophomore said four defendants came after him, and witnesses said they tried and failed to prevent the attack on led by defendant Michael Gallegos.

"He went back outside for a minute, and then he went back in," the sophomore witness testified. "He was holding a broomstick, and Lucas Martinez held him down in the top bunk.

"That's when they assaulted him."

The witness said he was able to fight off some of the same attackers the next day.

KRQE News 13 is not naming the witnesses under a policy of not identifying alleged victims of sex crimes.

Defense lawyers focused on some discrepancies in the testimony as the witnesses painted slightly different pictures of the attacks.

More victims and other witnesses who said they escaped similar attacks are expected to testify Wednesday.

The preliminary hearing is presenting evidence to a district judge who will decide if there is enough evidence to take the case to a jury trial.

Robertson football coach Ray Woods and all his assistants resigned after the attacks became public. They have not been charged with any crime.