Judge scolds, sentences Valencia hazers

LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) - Two former Valencia High School football players learned their punishment Thursday for a locker-room hazing that initially brought adult rape charges.

They got a big break after cutting plea deals to be sentenced as juveniles.

District Court Judge George Eichwald sentenced Jeremiah Carroll and Jake Sanchez to two years of probation, but they'll have some work to do during that time.

Carroll and Sanchez were 17 in 2010 when they were accused of sodomizing another player in a locker room at Valencia High.

They first were charged as adults on rape charges and could have faced up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

But in September they each pleaded no-contest to aggravated battery were to be sentenced as juveniles.

During their first year of probation, Carroll and Sanchez must do community service and talk to schools about not hazing others.

If they do that, the second year of probation will be dropped.

In addition to pronouncing sentence, the judge spoke of the victim as he delivered a scolding.

"I don't know his size, but you guys took advantage of him that's, the bottom line," district court judge George Eichwald told the pair. "It's not a case of boys being boys. It's a case of boys being bullies."

If Carroll and Sanchez don't keep their end of the deal, they will have to complete 200 hours of community service at the landfill.

A third teen, Curtis Peralta, who watched the hazing but did nothing to stop it, took a deal early on by pleading guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The victim's family agreed to all the plea agreements saying they didn't want to ruin the boy's lives with sex-offense convictions. Family members also said they don't think Carroll and Sanchez do anything like this again.