Four La Puente High students arrested on suspicion of assault

Four students at La Puente High School were arrested on suspicion of assault in connection with allegations they sexually hazed younger boys on the varsity soccer team with a pole, authorities said Monday. A coach, who was not named, has been placed on administrative leave.

Holding placards and banners and chanting “justice” and “no more hazing,” about 30 parents protested outside the high school Monday after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit and the school district revealed the arrests and the soccer coach’s possible involvement.

The four students were cited and released to their parents last week while prosecutors consider charges. The alleged assaults are believed to have occurred on the school grounds and are suspected of being part of a hazing ritual for new players on the Warriors’ championship varsity soccer team.

Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit detectives, who have interviewed more than 70 people so far, initiated the investigation after a parent of one of the alleged victims contacted authorities. Detectives have identified at least four victims, ages 14 and 15, and believe the hazing has been going on for several years, Sgt. Dan Scott said. There is no evidence at this stage, Scott said, that the coach was present during the alleged attacks but confirmed that he is under investigation.

Law enforcement sources, not authorized to publicly discuss specifics while the investigation is ongoing, said that in at least one instance there is evidence that a pole or stick was used to sodomize a minor. In that case, the boy sought medical treatment for his injuries.

“This is deeply disturbing to me and the entire community....” said Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Supt. Barbara Nakaoka, who said the school’s parents were notified in a letter and telephone call on Friday. “We do not and will not turn a blind eye to reports of harassment or hazing.”

Nakaoka said the district immediately contacted authorities after a parent informed school administrators of the allegations. She also said the coach placed on leave is a teacher at the school and is fully cooperating.

Separately, an attorney who represents three of the alleged victims said Monday that the coach knew of the hazing and that the boys’ families plan to sue the district.

“A lawsuit is the only way to get any leverage over the school district and to force it change its ways,” said Brian Claypool, who also represents dozens of parents in the Miramonte Elementary School case, in which a teacher with the L.A. Unified School District is charged with feeding students his semen.

Claypool told reporters at a news conference that the sexual abuse was widespread and that several boys were attacked with a pole inside the soccer storage room — part of a hazing ritual for all new varsity players.

Claypool said two 14-year-old boys were jumped by several older players and then penetrated with a “javelin-like object,” while a third boy, 15, “fought for his life” and, despite being covered in bruises, managed to fend off the assailants and grab the pole.

In the 15-year-old’s case, Claypool said, a school soccer coach told the boy to go to the storage locker room, and when the boy refused, the coach escorted him there. Once inside, the boy was attacked, Claypool said, although the coach was not present during the attack.

“Do you think the teacher did not hear the boy scream?” Claypool asked. That boy’s mother said her son “was terrified” and she now wants him out of the school. “They had a stick with a sharp point,” she said. “They tried to pull down his pants.”

Claypool said of the two 14-year-olds he represents, one had his pants pulled down and was sexually assaulted with the pole while the other submitted after allegedly being told “we can do this the hard way or easy way.”

“I just want justice and my son to be safe,” said one of their mothers standing outside the school with protesters. “I never thought something so awful could happen here.

“My son didn’t tell me about it at first,” she said. “I’m worried about retaliation. I want him out of this school district. He is going to have to move, but it has been so hard on him.”

richard.winton@latimes.com