CBI probes hazing claims at Springfield High School

It’s Homecoming in Springfield, but the most talked about game isn’t what will be played on the field but rather what some older players allegedly did off of it.

“One person holds down somebody and the other one takes their fingers and you know, puts it up their butt…but we have pants on, we have our football pants on and that’s the game resistance,” one freshman player describes what he says he saw repeatedly at the beginning of the season.

We are protecting his identity because of the nature of the allegations. The teen says his fellow freshman told coaches about it happening about a month ago.

“They came in and yelled at everyone and said if it ever happened again you’re off the team, you’re done, so everybody stopped,” the teen player said.

But the allegations reached the Springfield Police Department this week. That agency then decided to bring in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to further investigate the claims.

The CBI said it joined the investigation on September 29th. It said agents were in town conducting interviews on Wednesday and Thursday. CBI says it cannot release more information because it is an active investigation.

School District RE-4 Superintendent Richard Hargrove told KRDO NewsChannel 13 that the district is investigating the behavior of some students on the football team. Hargrove did not provide any details about the students involved or the nature of the behavior being investigated.

“I had no idea this was going on,” the freshman football players mother said. “I understand there’s some hazing that happens in school, like get your butt popped with a towel or you pick on them but this is taking things too far.”

The mother and teen say they want the teens prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

“It’s not boys being boys. If this had happened to someone’s daughter it would be viewed very differently,” the mother said.