Police have arrested six Winter Springs High (Winter Springs, Fla.) football players and charged them with sexual battery and false imprisonment after they allegedly raped a 16-year-old student in the woods near their school.
Authorities said that a 16-year-old female Winter Springs High School student reported that she had been raped by a group of teens in a wooded area across from the school Thursday afternoon.
The girl told investigators that she knew two of the attackers.
Winter Springs Police Chief Kevin Brunelle said they have plenty of evidence against the suspects, which was being reviewed by his team and the State Attorney’s Office over the last week.
“This is a case where we were presented with information that is very complex and that required us to make sure we do a thorough, thorough investigation,” said Brunelle.
Authorities were still trying to piece together how the young girl made her way into the woods in the first place.
“At some point between the interaction of these individuals, the subjects and the victim, the victim indicated that she no longer wanted to participate in the activities and she wanted to go back to the school, and she was not allowed to,” said Brunelle.
In total, Tywuan Johnson, 17, Torreano Batton, 18, Josea Sims, 17, Deoante Stewart, 17, Tolbert Alexander, 16, and Marquis Pierre, 16, have all been arrested. While mostly minors, the alleged perpetrators’ names have been released in accordance with Florida law that allows it when the minors are charged with a felony.
h/t Deadspin