TAMPA, Fla. – Four Florida middle-school students are being charged as adults in the alleged sexual assaults on a classmate in a school locker room.
The teens are accused of holding down a 13-year-old flag-football teammate and assaulting him with a broomstick and hockey stick. The victim told investigators the boys had harassed and bullied him for nearly two months.
State attorney's office spokeswoman Pam Bondi said Wednesday that each boy faces four counts of sexual battery, stemming from "multiple incidents on different dates."
Each count carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.
Three of the boys charged are 14 and the other is 15.
Each pleaded not guilty at a hearing Wednesday and had a $15,000 bond set.
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