Statutory rape, based upon age, is when in Minnesota someone more than two years older than the victim engages in sexual penetration with someone at least 13 years of age and less than 16 years of age. There is no exclusions for hockey players.
“The school investigation is concluded,” Barb Olson said more than a week ago. “It’s an off-campus incident. The only connection to the school is students-athletes are involved and they ascribe to a code of conduct.”
“Over?” Like John Belushi proclaimed in the movie “Animal House”, “It’s not over.” The Sun Press & News reported on the suspensions of 13 high school hockey players over an “incident” which was investigated by the Osseo Area School District. In a judgment handed down on January 17, the senior high officials had already completed the hearing process, which allegedly included conducting “a thorough investigation,” in consultation “with the Minnesota State High School League and the Maple Grove Police Department.”
According to a story on January 25 in the Minneapolis StarTribune, “At a news conference called Thursday to talk about how to move the team forward, school officials declined to give specifics on what led to the suspension of 13 players last week. When reporters asked Principal Sara Vernig about the purported existence of a sex video stemming from the incident, she said: ‘I can’t answer that. It’s part of the investigation.’ She later added, ‘I’ll tell you, personally, it’s been devastating and disappointing.’ Longtime head coach Gary Stefano called it ‘by far my worst experience’’ in 32 years as a coach. He said references to a purported video called ‘The Show’ had been ‘brought up.’ School officials stopped him from answering further, citing privacy laws.”
Concerning the Maple Grove hockey scandal, this from City Pages:
“A person who identified himself as a student teacher in the Osseo School District (of which Maple Grove High School is a part) said the following on Twitter (his identity is being withheld; screengrabs were sent to us by a third party):
This high school hockey team sex tape is about to blow up as more of these facts come out, these kids are screwed…
[replying to someone else] I’m student teaching in that school district & the teachers were talking about it today if the stuff is true it’ll get bad..
could be a long road out of jail depending on some details…
I’m not sure how much is known yet but its all slowly coming out…
one girl, rest were hiding & watching/video-taping it…
yeah the stuff was crazy. (They do it every year, get the girl drunk, girl might have been 15 etc.) If these are true its bad…
it will depend on a lot of the detail, but it could get really bad….”
The incredible thing here is that the Maple Grove High School thought that somehow the high school had jurisdiction in this matter that was being covered up, for reasons of privacy. From the statement released by Osseo Area School Distict Community Relations Director Barb Olson it had seemed reasonable to conclude that police were on hand at the private residence, at the time of this “incident.” And the investigation, hearing and penalty all came down between January 14 and January 17? And it had seemed reasonable to conclude that the “incident” involved chemicals or sexual harassment/hazing, since penalties were (improperly) invoked under the Minnesota State High School League’s code of conduct.
So why was the Osseo Area School District releasing statements concerning a criminal matter? Why was the Osseo Area School District investigating a criminal matter under the auspices of the Minnesota High School League? In the last ten days, the Community Relations Director Barb Olson made reference to an “alleged” incident, in a press release, concerning the suspension of 13 hockey players, after an investigation into an “incident” at a private home in December.
In Maple Grove, Minnesota, school officials have just a slight idea of the code of conduct and the applicable penalties under the rules of the Minnesota High School League, based upon the press releases and news conference held to date. And where was the County Attorney with jurisdiction in these matters, over and above the “the investigation” by the Osseo Area School District and their conclusion of law to punish a violation of “the code of conduct” which each athlete signs at the start of a season. The completed investigation determined that in mid-December in a private home involving multiple athletes there were violations of the State High School League code of conducts. “We can’t provide the specifics about who were involved and what the incident was or the specific consequences,” according to Barb Olson, based upon data privacy law
Well, if you believe the TWEETS, a member of the hockey team had sex with a young woman below the age of 16. And the incident was recorded. And there was talk of “The Show” tape which must refer to a song which had come out of the movie “Money Ball” when to high school kids, even to hockey players, “ball” referred to something else. It is of note that the Minnesota State High School League’s code of conduct does not address criminal sexual conduct.
City Pages has reported that the Maple Grove Police Department had no idea of the incident. So that was why the county attorney was acting like a former soccer player keeping his/her hands off of the matter? With maybe no idea, maybe the district attorney might now start taking over the investigation, under due process, to find out what happened to “The Show,” specifying the Minnesota laws involving statutory rape.
Note the initial reaction by the administrators at the school, in their official press release last week that stated: “It’s an off-campus incident. The only connection to the school is students-athletes are involved and they ascribe to a code of conduct.” Was there a hope all of this discomfort, when the young men knew the young women at the party, would go away? Was the failure to notify the county attorney because it was the kids of Maple Grove? Or did no one in Maple Grove recognize criminal sexual conduct? And what of the suggestion that this might be some kind of lingering hockey ritual in Maple Grove, passed along from one class to the next? Whether in public school or private churches, sexual abuse by people you knew was hard to consider — by police and county attorneys.
If the alleged woman involved was 15 years old, rather than calling the Minnesota High School League, the county attorney should be filing charges, whether the family of the victim agrees or not. The public interest included the degree of fame and honor a hockey player got in the first place from representing his high school. And an investigation should include how long this “Show” has been going on.
Meanwhile, in facing the most private parts of lives, with school administrators dragging a code of conduct of the Minnesota State High School League into the discussion, to cloud a public accounting of the matter, the hockey team was intact, the perpetrator as well as the bad kids on the team who said nothing were back on the ice, in uniform with their mouthguards, representing a high school and an administration with so little idea where the real world begins. And the law not yet enforced.
POST SCRIPT: Maple Grove is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The Hennepin County Attorney serves as the chief prosecutor of all adult felony crimes and juvenile offenses in Hennepin County. The County Attorney is also responsible for providing legal counsel to the County Board of Commissioners and all county departments, as well as representing the county in civil lawsuits, child support matters, child protection actions and mental health commitments. The Osseo School District is the fifth-largest school district in the state of Minnesota, serving all or parts of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Corcoran, Dayton, Maple Grove, Osseo, Plymouth, and Rogers. The Osseo School Board re-elected Maple Grove resident Dean Henke, a twenty-five year resident of Maple Grove, as the board chair (with his 9 years of experience as an Osseo school board member) at annual organizational meeting on January 8, 2013. The Osseo School Board also elected Teresa Lunt vice chair, Tammie Epley clerk and Jim Burgett treasurer.
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