4 teens charged in Bixby football team sex assault case

BIXBY, Okla. (AP) – Four ex-football players at an Oklahoma high school have been charged with the sexual assault of a teammate that prosecutors say wasn’t promptly reported.

Special prosecutor Matt Ballard on Thursday filed a second-degree rape by instrumentation charge against the Bixby High School students. Three are 17 years old and one is 16.

They each face up to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors are still investigating whether school officials took too long to tell police about the accusation. They say school leadership waited eight days to report what was first deemed hazing after a 16-year-old said a teammate in September assaulted him with a pool cue while others restrained him.

The superintendent of the Tulsa-area school district resigned in December amid the fallout.