4:03 pm -- Initial court hearings set for players
Initial hearings today were set for four former Carmel basketball players facing misdemeanor battery and criminal recklessness charges.
All four will have initial hearings at 1:15 p.m. May 28, according to the magistrate’s office.
They may waive their right to initial hearings because the charges are misdemeanors, Leerkamp said Monday.
Leerkamp thought the hearings would be scheduled within the next week, but according to the jail, which sets initial hearings, May 28 was one of the most immediate times available.
The jail usually sets initial hearings the week after the arrest, and initial hearings are available only on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Carmel players' hearings were set for May 28 to keep the schedule balanced, according to the jail.
-- Carrie Ritchie
8:15 AM -- Suspects freed from jail
Four former Carmel High School basketball players charged in an assault investigation were released from jail early this morning.
The suspects -- Robert Kitzinger, Brandon Hoge, Oscar Faladun, and Scott Laskowski – arrived at the Hamilton County Jail at 5:15 p.m. Monday and were released before 4:30 a.m., WTHR (Channel 13) reported.
They were charged with misdemeanor counts of battery and criminal recklessness. They were freed on bonds ranging from $5,000 to $3,000.
Earlier -- Details in Carmel case remain a mystery
Four former Carmel High School basketball players have been charged with a total of 13 misdemeanor counts -- but what exactly happened on a team bus and in a school locker room that led to those charges remains a tightly kept secret that prosecutors have no intention of sharing with the public.
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At an hourlong news conference Monday to announce the charges, prosecutors from Hamilton and Hendricks counties said they had an ethical responsibility not to discuss details.
And, in taking case to a grand jury, they assured not only the privacy of the alleged victims, which was their stated goal, but also blocked the release of any information about the alleged perpetrators and crimes.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp defended her decision to take the case before a grand jury. She also said her investigation focused on facts, not rumors or innuendo.
"Having input from the community," she said of the grand jury review, "was a very important part of this whole process.
"Their decision was well thought- and long thought-out."
She said the charges reflected "the consequences they felt was most appropriate for the circumstances."
But Henry Karlson, professor of law emeritus at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis, called the grand jury proceeding and the charges "one of the most outrageous cover-ups I've ever seen."
Karlson said the lack of details of the alleged crimes provided by Leerkamp was suspicious. It was disingenuous for her to say she was trying to protect the victims' privacy, he said.
Rather, she was shielding the accused from embarrassment, said Karlson, who taught law for 40 years before retiring.
"This was not withheld to benefit the victims," he said. "It was used to aid the perpetrators and perhaps the school system.
"They've hidden all the facts of the criminal conduct. This is in the purest terms a cover-up to protect the perpetrators."
Former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman said the process and revelations were unorthodox.
"The charges are somewhat unusual in the wide range of dates and the details about specific acts," Newman said. "I doubt if any of the defendants will complain about the vagueness because they are not anxious to have a public airing about what they are charged with doing."
He said the prosecutor decides how much to reveal in a case and it doesn't matter whether a grand jury or the prosecutor brings the charges.
But IU law Professor Norm Lefstein said there might not be any lurid details to expose.
"They weren't charged with any sexual crimes," he said. "The absence of the more serious charges leads one to conclude that they couldn't provide the evidence for them."
About all the prosecutors would divulge is that four young men now face misdemeanor charges in connection with multiple incidents involving three different victims -- identified in court documents only by their initials.
The charges stem from a Jan. 22 incident on a team bus traveling through Hendricks County and incidents in a locker room that occurred from Nov. 1 through Jan. 21. While all the charges were filed in Hamilton County, those involving the bus incident will be transferred to Hendricks County for disposition.
There were three victims in the locker room incidents. One of those young men also was the victim in the bus incident.
Those charged Monday were:
Brandon Hoge, 18, who faces one Class A charge of battery and a Class B count of criminal recklessness in connection with locker room incidents, and a Class B count of criminal recklessness in the bus incident. His charges involve just two of the victims.
Robert Kitzinger, 19, is charged with a Class B count of battery in the bus incident, and a Class A count of battery, as well as two Class B counts of criminal recklessness, in the locker room incidents. His charges involved all three victims.
Oscar Falodun, 18, is charged with a Class A count of battery and two Class B counts of criminal recklessness, all in connection with locker room incidents. His charges involved all three victims.
John "Scott" Laskowski, 19, is charged with three Class B counts of criminal recklessness, all in connection with the locker room incidents. His charges involved all three victims.
Leerkamp said the accused teens have been instructed to turn themselves in at the Hamilton County Jail and will be eligible for release on bond. Bond has been set at $5,000 for all but Laskowski, who has a bond of $3,000, Leerkamp said.
The Class A misdemeanor charge carries a maximum penalty of one year in county jail and a fine of $5,000. The maximum penalty for a Class B misdemeanor is 180 days in county jail and a fine of $1,000.
Given their age and lack of prior criminal problems, it would not be uncommon for the four men to be offered a diversion program that would lead to charges being removed from their records.
Initial hearings will be scheduled after the defendants surrender. The four students were expelled and will not be allowed to participate in graduation, though they are expected to graduate.
The grand jury declined to bring charges against any coaches or other adults associated with the team, Leerkamp said, even though she believes there were some systemic breakdowns.
"Do I think that there were individuals who should have known or who should have been more tuned in to what was going on with these kids? Absolutely," she said.
Superintendent Jeff Swensson announced Monday night that three freshman basketball coaches who were on the bus when that incident occurred are no longer coaching and that he accepted the resignation of head coach Mark Galloway.
Principal John Williams called the incidents "unacceptable" and said at the meeting he wouldn't make excuses.
"When parents send their kids to us, they expect them to be safe, whether it's at an athletic event or in a classroom," he said. "When that does not happen, it is our responsibility to investigate and deal with the students involved and then make whatever changes to best ensure these things do not happen again."
Leerkamp said two troubling factors jumped out as she investigated the case.
"We had one group of children who saw things happening and were afraid to intervene because they thought they might be the next target of the behavior," she said. "The other thing that I observed for this investigation is that we had children who made statements that the victims may have brought on some of this behavior themselves.
"Both of those attitudes are unacceptable and have to be addressed."
Jim Crum, attorney for Hoge, anticipated Hoge would turn himself over to police within 24 hours. Crum wouldn't comment on what happened on the bus, but he said the Hoge family was looking forward to putting the incident behind them.
Laskowski's attorney, Mike Casati, said his client was disappointed.
"Scott feels like he did nothing wrong," Casati said. "It's been a long, drawn-out process so far, but he's looking forward to defending himself of these charges. Even though his name hasn't been released (until Monday), people in the greater Carmel community knew. He's been crucified based on the belief he's committed some kind of horrible crime, but that's not the case. His whole family's life has been turned upside down."
Laskowski remained friends with at least one of the alleged victims, Casati said.
Mark Sullivan, who's representing Falodun, said he's disappointed the grand jury indicted his client but was glad the charges aren't more severe.
"He's taking this very hard," Sullivan said. "He has never been in trouble before. He enjoyed being on the basketball team. He enjoyed being at Carmel."
Falodun finished his courses online and will still graduate with a diploma from Carmel High School. He plans to attend college, Sullivan said.
Bruce Boje, Kitzinger's attorney, declined comment, and Kitzinger didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Robert Turner, attorney for one of the alleged victims, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Turner has filed a tort claim notice on behalf of the youth and his family with Carmel school officials indicating the school district may be the target of a civil lawsuit.
Hank Nuwer, an associate professor at Franklin College who has written four books on hazing, said there was no excuse for the incidents -- particularly since the school had dealt with a hazing incident 12 years ago involving the swim team.
Nuwer said Carmel school officials failed to take appropriate action after the 1998 incident, citing the decision to keep secret a monetary settlement.
"If they had been forced to tell taxpayers how much they paid, that might have helped head this off," he said.
While declining to directly blame school officials, Leerkamp did say the investigation uncovered "a pattern of behavior that was investigated by the grand jury that included some specific incidents."
"I would say that it went beyond hazing," she said." It was like hazing taken to . . . They crossed a line."
Carmel School Board member Bruce Calabrese said he didn't know the results of the Department of Child Services investigation that was handed over to the prosecutor's office Friday, which likely examined the role of the adults supervising the team members.
"It probably wouldn't look good if we kept the coaches," Calabrese said.
"Today's indictments mean someone (the coaches) didn't do their jobs," Calabrese said. "Where it starts and where it stops, I don't know yet."
