Crime & Safety
Three Teens To Be Charged in Attempted Sexual Assault at Hazelwood West Middle School
Four seventh-grade boys allegedly attempted to rape a seventh-grade girl at Hazelwood Middle School on Monday. The Hazelwood Police Department referred three to St. Louis County Family Court seeking attempted forcible rape charges, among others.
Three of four male students involved in a sexual misconduct investigation at may soon be facing criminal charges, Hazelwood Police Chief Carl Wolf said.
About 30 minutes before school ended on Monday, four male Hazelwood West Middle School seventh-graders allegedly forced a female student, also a seventh-grader, into the boys’ bathroom and attempted to sexually assault her, stated an the Hazelwood Middle Sschool administration sent out to parents Thursday evening.
Neither the nor the have released specific details of the occurrence. The girl’s parents told KMOV that two of the students reportedly tried to pull down the girl’s pants and have sex with her while one stood outside the locked bathroom door and the other acted as a lookout in the hallway.
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School officials and the police interviewed the students involved, ages ranging from 12 to 14, in an initial investigation throughout a two-day period, a release from the Hazelwood Police Department stated.
Three of the four boys have been interviewed and referred to the St. Louis County Family Court. Charges of attempted forcible rape, second-degree sexual assault and injurious behavior are being sought, Chief Wolf said.
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"The fourth boy is still under investigation," he said. "There is no way to determine what type of punishment they would face at this time because juvenile courts are a whole different ballgame."
The district's assistant superintendent for communications, Diana Gulotta, said the boys involved were immediately removed from school premises when the incident was reported.
Gulotta also said before police department made its recommendation to the courts, that if the allegations were confirmed, the boys would face punishments that could range from a 10 day out-of-school suspension all the way to expulsion.
No word yet on if any of these actions have been taken against the students since HPD's announcement.
Gulotta also said that the district’s biggest concern at this time is evaluating the situation to determine what happened and working to prevent it from happening again.