Sexual Assault Case Divides Classmates : Some Defend, Others Condemn Attack on Retarded Teen-Age Girl

The arrest of five high school boys--including twins who co-captain the football team--in the sexual assault of a mentally retarded teen-ager has some students condemning their classmates and others rallying to their defense.

Eight other male teens, including the son of a police lieutenant in this affluent town, cheered while they watched the attack, investigators said. They are considered witnesses and have not been charged.

The five Glen Ridge High School students were arrested Wednesday and charged with sexually assaulting the 17-year-old with a broomstick and miniature baseball bat.

Taunts, Threats

The case sparked taunts, threats and incidents of vandalism at the school of 340 pupils. Thursday was the annual “spring day” at Glen Ridge High, and along with the picnics and games there were fights, car vandalism and graffiti scrawled on walls inside the school, students said.

The five who were charged were suspended from school Thursday for 10 days “because of the disruption their presence in the school would have on the educational program,” said Supt. Rose McCaffrey.

Damian DeVito, 17, defended the accused teen-agers, two of whom are his football teammates. He said he has known the victim since elementary school and said he believes she willingly participated in the March 1 incident.

“I know them well enough to know they wouldn’t do anything against somebody’s will,” DeVito said. “These kids are really not bad kids at all.”

Some students who were interviewed refused to give their names, saying they were frightened by threats made by friends of the accused students. A junior said he received a death threat from a telephone caller who warned him against talking about the case.

School officials refused Thursday to allow journalists onto the campus, saying it would be disruptive. Reporters spoke to students in the parking lot of the school in this community of 8,000 people, about 20 miles from New York City.

The unidentified victim, now 18, met a group of youths in a local park and then went to the nearby home of two of the teens charged in the case, 18-year-old twins Kevin and Kyle Scherzer, Essex County Prosecutor Herbert Tate said. The twins are co-captains of the school football team. Kyle also captains the baseball team.

The Scherzer brothers and Peter J. Quigley, also 18, were charged as adults with aggravated sexual assault and conspiracy. The two other defendants, 16 and 17 at the time of the incident, have been charged as juveniles.

Tate said the girl is mentally retarded, but he would not elaborate on her condition.

Police Informed

The prosecutor said the girl told a teacher about the attack on March 4 and that relatives and school officials took the information to police on March 22. Police notified the prosecutor’s office a week later. The prosecutor’s office took charge of the investigation on April 12.

The teen-agers were arrested Wednesday morning. WNBC-TV in New York broadcast a report on the case Tuesday night.

Weiss said the arrests were delayed because of the complexities of the case, particularly the question of the victim’s capacity to consent to the alleged activities.

Karl Greiner, a spokesman for the Assn. for Retarded Citizens-New Jersey, called the attack demeaning.

“I suppose that she was treated like an object . . . a dehumanizing affair at best, with spectators cheering on,” Greiner said. “It’s difficult enough to live your life with a handicap. It’s especially difficult to be treated in a dehumanizing way.”