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Published – July 21, 2022

In September 2021, a 14-year-old football player was assaulted by his teammates in the locker room after a game. The student’s father shared a video of the incident. A group of football players can be seen cornering the victim in the locker room and attacking him, many with water bottles, some with fists. One player allegedly pulled down the victim’s pants and assaulted him while another ripped his Apple Watch off of his wrist.

A few hours later the head football coach, without referring to the incident, informed the players that anyone who committed an assault and battery or sexual assault would be kicked off the team. However, according to the victim’s parents and his lawyer, the school suspended the two players who allegedly punched and sexually molested the student for five days each. The player who punched him did not return to the team, but the other player was welcomed back.

In the months that followed the attack, the victim was repeatedly assaulted, threatened, bullied, and intimidated at school by other players. In December 2021, fearing for his safety, his parents pulled him out of school.

The parents, frustrated by the school’s handling of the situation, went to the Boston Globe. Until this point, the school had not informed the public of the assault that happened on school grounds. Peter Hahn, the family’s attorney, said in December:

“It’s just outrageous that there are no charges. The more I find out about the situation, I wonder what I’m going to find out next about how the school has mishandled this, how the police have mishandled it, how the DA’s office has mishandled it.”

After the Globe broke the story, charges were brought against seven Woburn students. Five football players were charged for their roles in the incident, including one who faces an additional count of indecent assault and battery for the alleged groping. Another player was charged with accosting the victim later in his Spanish class and a final student was charged with punching him in a bathroom.

The Globe reports that many of the incidents have since been resolved, with students ordered to perform community service. The case involving the indecent assault and battery charge is still pending.

Woburn Public Schools has 4,295 students enrolled across ten schools.