VJHS wrestlers charged in lewd bus incident
Duchesne County prosecutors have filed petitions in 8th District Juvenile Court against three Vernal Junior High School wrestlers accused of smearing bodily fluids on teammates. The petitions contain one allegation forcible sex abuse and one allegation of hazing against each of the three teenagers. The basis for the forcible sex abuse allegation is that the 15-year-old and two 14-year-olds took “indecent liberties” with their teammates, according to Duchesne County prosecutor Grant Charles. The case stems from a Dec. 4 incident on a Uintah School District bus as the junior high school's wrestling team returned from a meet in Morgan County. Most of the team, including the coaches, was at the front of the darkened bus watching a movie. But three wrestlers were at the back of the bus. Infrared cameras there captured the teens engaging in individual “lewd acts,” said Duchesne County sheriff's detective Dan Bruso. When the teens finished, they walked to the front of the bus where they wiped bodily fluids on more than one teammate, according to authorities. A parent reported the incident to the Vernal Police Department. It was turned over to Duchesne County investigators after bus logs showed the bus was traveling through the county when the incident occurred, Bruso said. Uintah School District officials have declined to discuss the allegations against the three students, citing federal privacy laws. The juvenile court allegations against the teens are serious, Charles said. If they were adults, the sex abuse count would be considered a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The hazing count would be a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail. No dates have been set for the teens' first court appearances.
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More than 400 people have read this skin-crawling, breaking-news story, and none has posted a comment?
I guess smearing semen on your teammates is acceptable behavior in Vernal, while the BLM's charge to protect some of Utah's wilderness has folks frothing in rage.
Interesting.
Patrick Timothy Mullikin
Ely (Nev.) Times City Editor
As you see Mr. Mullikin, this is an everyday occurance, with 11 sexual offenders in a one mile radius of my house, this is what one would consider acceptable behavior, the lads probably recieved high fives from their family members.
A lack of comments doesn't mean that it is acceptable behavior or condoned by those reading the article. That assumption is ignorant at best! The more logical assumption would be that because it is so "skin-crawling" that people don't want to discuss it or don't know what to say about it. Also, the made the state papers, and so a lot of people probably came to the website to read this, but don't have accounts to be able to post comments.
If you read comments from previous articles on the incident, you will certainly see it is not accepted by most. Although I did hear that at least one of the parents complained by saying it was "just boys being boys." Now you know why they did it and to whom it is considered acceptable behavior!
We didn't comment because we are trying to sell our house and move now.
This is a terrible incident and these kids should be punished severely. What in the world is wrong with people these days? The excuse that "boys will be boys" is not a good one in this case. This is just sick & wrong.
Also, PastEditorPTMullikin, if you actually believe that Vernal residents are ok with this kind of behavior your assumptions are nothing but ignorant! I would guess that people don't comment most of the time because if you don't have an account here, it takes 10 minutes to set one up! I just did it so I know. AND, really, what is there to say about this case other than the fact that it disgusting what these kids did, and that they should be punished.
The BLM charge that you are referring to is something that weighs on the lives of many people here in the Basin. We, as residents of the Basin, have a say in what happens to our federal lands. We have comments to share about it because it is something that we can change or have somewhat of a say in. What kind of say do we have in a case towards these teenage kids? Not much. They did what they did. It was/is disgusting. They have to be punished. End of story.