Strasburg boy ambushed, sexually assaulted by students in locker room, police say

A Strasburg boy was held down by at least five other students and sexually assaulted in a middle school locker room in April, resulting in investigations that found staff violated district rules in responding to the incident.

The assault at Hemphill Middle School was first reported by the I-70 Scout in May, and the newspaper said three administrators and two coaches were suspended in the aftermath.

A heavily-redacted Adams County Sheriff’s Office investigation report confirmed a male student was assaulted at a Strasburg school at around 5:30 p.m. April 9.

Witnesses told investigators that the boy had fought with another student the day before and was later told by other students they were “going to get him” after track practice.

The boy was ambushed in the locker room and tried to escape, but was held down by five or six students and sexually assaulted, according to the sheriff’s office.

The assault was investigated as illegal sexual contact, a felony, but the boy’s parents did not want to press criminal charges in the case.

In an email to The Denver Post, Strasburg School District Superintendent Kelle Bongard said there were two separate investigations into employee and student conduct related to the assault.

“To be clear, staff were not involved in the alleged incident between students in the locker room, and are being investigated solely for their response/actions when becoming aware of the alleged incident,” Bongard wrote.

Two district employees violated at least one district policy, but Bongard declined to say anything further about their “personnel status” because of confidentiality rules.

Two district employees were cleared of any policy violations and one employee is still being investigated, Bongard said.

The student investigation is ongoing.

After the I-70 Scout’s report published, Bennett officials voted to stop advertising in the newspaper because the town’s trustees and mayor found the article – which included graphic descriptions of the assault – to be “extremely distasteful.”

The story’s author, newspaper publisher Douglas Claussen, later apologized for including too many details in the story, according to the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition.

Bennett town officials previously paid Claussen around $10,000 a year for display advertisements and legal notices, CFOIC reported.

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