3 Dos Palos football players arrested in ‘hazing investigation’

Three Dos Palos High School varsity football players have been arrested in connection with a “hazing investigation,” police said.

Police Chief Barry Mann confirmed the arrests Wednesday in a telephone interview with the Merced Sun-Star, but said he couldn’t comment on most details of the case.

The three student-athletes, two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year-old, were arrested Tuesday, police said.

Mann described the situation that led to the arrests as “very serious” and a “very emotional issue.” The police chief also confirmed the fact that the three students are varsity football players is “relevant” to the investigation. He said police have not ruled out the possibility of making additional arrests.

When asked whether the allegations involved criminal sexual activity, the police chief said he would neither confirm nor deny that possibility.

“When some of these details become public, I think there’s going to be a healing process needed for the whole community,” Mann said.

Bill Spalding, Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified superintendent, confirmed the arrests and said the arrested students weren’t in school Wednesday. He said at least one alleged incident took place late last week.

“It’s a pretty serious misconduct,” Spalding said. “It appears to be hazing, but there is more investigation going on. Police and school administrators are trying to really get a scope of what occurred.”

Dos Palos High School has about 685 students in grades nine through 12 and is the sole high school in the community of about 5,125 people, about 28 miles southwest of Merced. More than 30 student-athletes are listed on the roster for the Broncos’ varsity squad, which plays in the West Sierra League.

Investigators declined to comment on specific details of the allegations, including the exact number of alleged victims, other than to say it was “at least one,” or whether they suffered any physical injuries.

“It’s too early to comment on those types of details because of the nature of the hazing and the fact that the case does involve juvenile (suspects). We’re still actively investigating this situation,” Mann said. “Obviously, in general, any time you have a serious case of hazing, there’s going to be some type of injury.”

He declined to elaborate, but confirmed there have not been any deaths as a result of the alleged misconduct.

The superintendent said he expects the district to take disciplinary action against the students “fairly soon.”

The police investigation was initiated Monday.

“We received additional information on Tuesday and more information (Wednesday), and that information was enough to make these arrests at this point,” Mann said. “We felt there was immediate action needed.”

Mann said several employees with the Dos Palos Oro Loma Joint Unified School District had been “instrumental” to the police investigation and described school officials as “extremely cooperative and helpful.”

Head football coach Rob Calvert said he was waiting for directions from district administrators before commenting.

The football program is one of the most storied in California history. The Broncos hold the state record for league titles with 49 and rank fifth in CIF section titles with 15. It’s one of the top-five winningest programs in state history.

After a couple of down years, the Broncos appear to be back on an uptick since Calvert took over the program in 2015. The longtime assistant got back to the program’s roots, re-instilling the power run game for which it’s been known.

The team responded, going 7-5 in his first season, winning the West Sierra League crown and reaching the Central Section Division V semifinals.

Dos Palos appears to have picked up right back this year where it left off, opening the season 2-0 going into Friday night’s 78th edition of the Westside War with rival Los Banos.

“I can say that unless things are cleared up by Friday, they (the three players) won’t be on the field for the game,” Calvert said, “and it doesn’t look like it will be.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 2:18 PM with the headline "3 Dos Palos football players arrested in ‘hazing investigation’."