Source: Football player sodomized

LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) - The Valencia High School football players accused of sexual hazing could be charged soon, and their coaches are now being sued.

Detectives believe a trio of juniors and seniors held down and sexually assaulted a younger teammate. Now, the case will go before a grand jury to see if they will be charged with rape.

News 13 has learned the upperclassmen are accused of holding down a fellow player and sodomizing him with their fingers in the locker room after a football practice in October. Sources also said the older players dropped their testicles onto the younger player's face, a prank called teabagging.

“State Police have identified approximately three suspects in this incident,” State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said.

News 13 learned those three teens now go to Belen High School. The three could face punishment; the case has been forwarded to the district attorney.

“What they are going to do at this point is forward it over for a grand jury review,” Garcia said.

That means the teens, one of whom is an adult, could face rape charges, just like the football players at Robertson High School did after an infamous 2008 sexual hazing at a preseason training camp.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that hazing case should have served as a warning for coaches and players, and that the coaches didn't do enough to prevent a culture of hazing.

The alleged victim's family is suing the Los Lunas School District, the superintendent, Valencia's principal and all the varsity football coaches.

( Download the lawsuit as PDF file.)

The lawsuit points out that two of those coaches are the fathers of two of the suspects. The civil lawsuit also claims that similar sex acts had been forced on other players in the days leading up to the attack.

The civil lawsuit doesn't ask for a set amount of money. The criminal case is scheduled to go before a grand jury next week.