The fathers of two Tamaqua Area School District football players have sued the district and its officials in federal court over what they describe as sexual assaults by teammates on Nov. 4, 2021, and subsequent cover-ups, bullying and freeze-outs.

The suit was filed Monday in U.S. District Court, Scranton, by attorneys Barry H. Dyller and Tara Giarratano, Wilkes-Barre, on behalf of the fathers of two children, identified as S.M., the father and natural guardian of A.M., and S.K., the father and natural guardian of T.K.

The filing names as defendants Superintendent Raymond Kinder, Assistant Superintendent Steven Toth, High School Principal Thomas McCabe, school board President Larry A. Wittig, and board members Nicholas Boyle, Melanie Dillman, Thomas Bartasavage, Bryan Miller, Mark Rother, Thomas Rottet, Daniel Schoener, and Trina Schellhammer.

Reached by phone late Monday, Wittig said that “when we are served, we’ll talk with our solicitor. It’s discouraging when we were extremely diligent in our response. But not everybody agrees with that, and that’s what lawsuits are all about.

“I’m disappointed. We approached this very seriously and professionally,” he said.

The case falls under the jurisdiction of Judge Joseph F. Saporito Jr. The suit asks a jury trial.

The suit includes 14 counts. Counts one and two: Deliberate indifference to report of sexual assault/harassment; retaliation following report of sexual assault; deliberate indifference to reports of retaliatory harassment; deliberate indifference to reports of retaliatory harassment resulting in second attempted sexual assault; counts six and seven: deliberate indifference to the right to unbiased treatment; counts eight, nine, 10 and 11: equal protection; negligence: the first sexual assault; negligence: the second sexual assault; negligence.

In the suit, the fathers contend that their sons were assaulted in the “football house,” a building across the street from the high school/middle school where players store equipment and change for practices and games. They are unsupervised in the building.

District officials and employees, including coaches, knew that while unsupervised, the players “behaved in a manner which resulted in their causing physical harm to each other.”

According to the 45-page suit, the football team has a “tradition” of sexually assaulting “certain freshman players by holding them down on the ground, beating them up,” and attempting penetration with an object.”

The “tradition is known as ‘the pineapple,’ ‘excalibur,’ ‘school bus’ or ‘the Raider Special.’?”

The assault on A.M.

According to the suit, when N.M., A.M.’s brother, was a freshman, he was assaulted with a broomstick, according to the suit.

On Nov. 4, 2021, N.M., A.M., and T.K. were directed by football staff to carry sports drinks into the Football House, where upperclassmen were “waiting to sexually assault them.”

As A.M. sat on a bench in front of his locker there, the lights went out. He was shoved off the bench onto the ground, and held down by a player known as T.O., who A.M. saw by the light of phone flashlights, the suit says.

T.O. rolled A.M. onto his stomach, and another player, Z.M., attempted to assault him with a banana. Another player, P.C., stood nearby, holding a banana.

A third player, L.K., repeatedly punched A.M. in the face.

The lights came back on. Z.M. shoved the banana in A.M.’s face, then ran upstairs with the others.

A.M. left, got in his father’s car, and reported the assault.

His father immediately called coach Samuel Bonner to report the assault. The father also reported the assault to school Director Nicholas Boyle, who said he’d make some calls and get back to him.

The father received a call from Principal Thomas McCabe; the father told him of the assault.

At about 8:30 p.m. borough police interviewed A.M. on school property, with Assistant Superintendent Steven Toth present.

On Nov. 11, 2021, Toth called the father and asked if he and McCabe could have a written statement from A.M. The father gave them the statement his son had given to Tamaqua police.

On Nov. 5, 2021, McCabe called the father to tell him one player had confessed to police and that three others were implicated.

The assault on T.K.

When T.K., unaware of the earlier assault on A.M., went into the Football House to retrieve his bag on Nov. 4, 2021, the lights went out, and several players rushed him.

T.K. fell into the lockers, and T.O. tried to turn him over onto his stomach to assault him with an object.

As T.K. struggled, the lights came on.

The next day, Nov. 5, 2021, T.K. went to McCabe’s office to report the assault, but was told the principal was “too busy” to meet with him.

After school, T.K. and his father, S.K., went to McCabe’s office. McCabe showed them video taken at the team dinner held on Nov. 4, 2021, that showed several players conspiring to steal T.K.’s bag to lure him in the Football House to sexually assault him.

T.K. and McCabe identified the players.

McCabe also asked T.K. for a written statement, which he provided.

“He was not offered counseling or supportive measures of any kind,” the suit contends.

Neither father nor son ever heard from administrators again.

“Upon information and belief, the Tamaqua Area defendants took no action to further investigate the sexual assault of T.K., or to impose discipline on those responsible,” the suit contends.

Contentions of cover-ups

On Nov. 9, 2021, school board President Larry Wittig gave a public statement at a school board meeting, characterizing the assault on A.M. as a “hazing incident for lack of a better term.”

On Nov. 16, 2021, the board held a disciplinary hearing for one student present during A.M.’s sexual assault.

Superintendent Kinder told the father and son they had no right to be present, told them to leave, and that federal law prohibited them from learning the outcome of the hearing.

On Nov. 18, 2021, a disciplinary hearing was held for Z.M., one of A.M.’s sexual assaulters. Kinder again forbid them from attending or learning the outcome.

Later that evening, a hearing was held for T.O.; again, neither father nor son was allowed to be present or knowing the outcome.

Z.M. and T.O. were both allowed to remain in school.

Father and son were not told A.M. had the right, under Title IX, to be represented by an attorney at the hearings. The accused were represented by their attorneys.

Although McCabe and Kinder had told the father that another of his son’s alleged assaulters, L.K., would be suspended pending his disciplinary hearing, L.K. was in school and took classes with his alleged victim.

According to the suit, the defendants protected L.K. because his mother teaches in the district.

On Nov. 22, 2021, the school board held a special meeting to discuss the sexual assaults of A.M. and T.K. The fathers were forbidden to attend.

Kinder ejected them from the meeting, placing them in separate rooms.

“Alone with S.M., Kinder called his son a liar and stated there was no evidence that any bananas were present during the attack,” the suit contends.

Kinder accused S.M. of “manufacturing” his son’s allegations, writing his statement for him, and falsely arguing his son’s story had repeatedly changed.

The father emailed Kinder, copying to Witting, Toth and Boyle, that Kinder should recuse himself from any disciplinary hearings after calling his son a liar and withholding information from him.

Kinder said he’d recuse himself from the investigation but nothing else.

Toth and McCabe asked A.M. who assaulted him with the banana; A.M. said it was Z.M.

In the suit, S.M. contends Witting and others made public statements aimed at covering up the sexual nature of the assaults.

He also contends that as the district protected the assaulters, the school became as hostile place for A.M. and his brother, N.M. The two were routinely bullied and called “gay.”

A.M. was pinned in the locker room by one of his wrestle teammates, who yelled “go get a banana.”

Although the bullying was reported, school officials did nothing about it.

On Jan. 27, 2022, A.M. withdrew from the school district.