Report: Shocking Details Emerge From Alleged Hazing Scandal That Ended Sayreville High's Football Season
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- A bombshell report on NJ.com has shed new light on a stunning hazing scandal that has rocked the football program at New Jersey's Sayreville High School.
Earlier Wednesday, an exclusive story by Matthew Stanmyre of NJ Advance Media was published to the site. In it are graphic details of what allegedly happened inside the locker room at the school.
According to Stanmyre's report, the attacks "would start with a howling noise from a senior football player ... and then the locker room lights were abruptly shut off."
The report stated that "a freshman football player would be pinned to the locker-room floor, his arms and feet held down by multiple upperclassmen. Then, the victim would be lifted to his feet while a finger was forced into his rectum. Sometimes, the same finger was then shoved into the freshman player's mouth."
The allegations have resulted in the canceling of the rest of the football season at Sayreville, one of the Garden State's traditional powers in the sport, and prompted a criminal investigation.
Stanmyre spoke to WFAN's Mike Francesa on Wednesday afternoon and expanded on the report. He said it took him a while to get people in the know to speak about what allegedly happened.
"I think eventually our sources wanted to get their side of the story out so that people could really get an idea of what's going on here," Stanmyre told Francesa.
Stanmyre said he's been told by an unnamed parent the alleged hazing was not an isolated incident.
"According to our source, this happened more than once, yes," Stanmyre said. "As our source says this happened multiple times and seemingly every day."
It appears that members of the football program have closed ranks, for Stanmyre said his news outlet has had no success getting anyone on the Sayreville coaching staff to comment about the alleged hazing.
"We're not aware of any law or gag order that has been issued against the coaching staff," Stanmyre said. "I'm not sure that we've directly asked that question. Just as far as we know none of them have been willing to speak, or none of them have talked to us when we've approached them in their neighborhood.
"We will try to chase that down as we're trying to chase everything," Stanmyre added.
Stanmyre said the national media has joined local news outlets in converging on Sayreville, a no frills town that loves its football but isn't used to this kind of attention.
"The last couple of days have almost turned the town into a circus," Stanmyre said. 'You just drive through and the news vans are everywhere. It's really turned the town upside-down."
As far as what the community knows about what is alleged to have happened in the locker room, Stanmyre said he doesn't think the parents have been told the whole story, and certainly not what NJ.com reported earlier Wednesday.
"On Monday they had a closed-door meeting with the parents. They would not let the media in there," Stanmyre said. "As far as we know, (Richard) Labbe, the superintendent, did not go into graphic details with them as to what's being investigated because they don't want to impede the investigation at all."
Stanmyre said he doesn't expect any announcement from the school any time soon. He said the most important information will likely come from the findings by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office's investigation.
"Really, everyone is waiting with bated breath for what the findings of the prosecutor's office are," Stanmyre said.
To hear the complete interview, please click on the audio link below.
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