CHICAGO -- Wheaton College says five football players charged with felonies in connection with an alleged 2016 hazing incident have been suspended from the team.
Spokeswoman LaTonya Taylor said Tuesday the players have been deemed "inactive for practice or competition" by Wheaton administrators and the coaching staff.
The DuPage County State's Attorney's office announced Monday that the five Wheaton College players are charged with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint. A judge signed arrest warrants and set $50,000 bonds for the players, who are expected to turn themselves in.
The Chicago Tribune reports that the victim, a freshman teammate, told police he was in his dormitory room in March 2016 when they duct-taped his hands and feet, put a pillowcase on his head, threw him in a car, attempted to sodomize him with an object and dumped him half-naked in an off-campus park.
Wheaton College says other players and coaching staff alerted college officials to an "incident."
The students who were being sought on arrest warrants are 22-year-old James Cooksey of Jacksonville, Florida; 21-year-old Kyler Kregal of Grand Rapids, Michigan; 21-year-old Benjamin Pettway of Lookout Mountain, Georgia; 21-year-old Noah Spielman of Columbus, Ohio; and 22-year-old Samuel TeBos of Allendale, Michigan.
Authorities say Kregel, a senior, turned himself in Tuesday evening. The other players are expected at the Wheaton Police Department sometime this week.
The Thunder, a Division III program ranked fourth in the nation, are scheduled to play at Elmhurst College on Saturday.
