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Ten members of a Pennsylvania high school football team, including several coaches, face charges after a player was allegedly stomped with cleats, and jabbed in the buttocks with a broomstick.
According to the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, a 15-year-old player was allegedly assaulted on two separate occasions in 2025 by teammates from Cheltenham High School.
Prosecutors said the first incident happened on Aug. 15, 2025, and was recorded by two juvenile players, then shared with students and other teammates over the following semester.
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During the alleged Aug. 15 incident, prosecutors said that the video recording showed several football players using a broomstick to poke the victim’s buttocks, and also showed other juvenile teammates holding him down. No coaches were present during the Aug. 15 incident.
Several witnesses allegedly saw Isaiah Simpson, 18, kicking or stomping on the victim during the second incident on Sept. 3, 2025.
The same juvenile from the Aug. 15 incident used a broomstick to poke at the victim’s butt, according to the grand jury filing.
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The victim told investigators that during the Sept. 3 incident, he curled into a ball in his football equipment to shield his head while others allegedly kicked, stomped and punched him in the head and groin with cleats.
The coaches, again, weren’t involved in the Sept. 3 incident but four coaches would later learn about it, according to authorities.
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Simpson was charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and related charges. Another football player, Josiah Peeler, 18, was charged with false swearing. Four other football players were charged, but their names weren’t released as they’re juveniles.
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Volunteer coach Ralph Burnley, 60, gave the victim a ride home after practice when he learned that the player was “jumped” and injured in his genital area. Burnley then called head coach Terence Tolbert, 55, and told him what happened.
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Text messages between coaches followed that call, leading to a group call with the victim. Assistant coach Darian “DJ” McFadden, 42, and Tolbert allegedly told the victim the matter would be handled and asked him not to tell his mother about the incident.
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Assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III, 45, allegedly joined other coaches in a decision to keep the matter in-house rather than alert the school or the boy’s mother, fearing it could jeopardize the team.
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The coaches were hit with charges of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
The victim’s mother learned of the second alleged attack shortly afterward from a relative who had heard about it from other parents. She then took the victim to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a contusion to his penis.
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High school administrators learned of the alleged hazing through an anonymous reporting app, called police and then canceled the football team’s season.
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Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele said, “These assaults on a football player were not the typical goofing around by teammates. These were crimes.”
“Numerous witnesses, many reluctant to share what they saw and knew, testified about what occurred in the Cheltenham High School locker room on these two occasions and testified about actions taken by some of the football coaches after the assaults,” he said. “After carefully considering all of the testimony and evidence, including reviewing the recovered videos of one of the assaults, the Grand Jury recommended charges against the four juveniles, two other football players and four coaches.”
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