Lisbon police send an investigation into hazing at a high school to the prosecutor

The front of Lisbon High School on Route 196. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Lisbon police on Wednesday submitted their findings of a criminal investigation into hazing allegations against members of the Lisbon High School football team to the district attorney, and parents criticized the district’s handling of the investigation at a school board meeting that evening.

“This will be referred for review of the entire case,” Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said Wednesday. “The public prosecutor’s office will review the case and decide whether or not to file charges.”

McGee said he expects charges “could be filed quickly” if the prosecutor decides to pursue a criminal case.

Neil McLaren Jr., district attorney for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties, did not respond Wednesday to a request to confirm that his office had received the case.

The Lisbon police are investigating a specific criminal complaint. The investigation is ongoing as information continues to be submitted, McGee said. He would not say where or when the alleged incident occurred or how many suspects or alleged victims were involved.

“I can’t say anything about the evidence. Excuse me. It’s quite complex and there are teenagers involved,” McGee said.

The Lisbon School Board has hired Portland law firm Drummond Woodsum to investigate the hazing allegations, at least some of which are believed to have occurred on school grounds.

Lisbon school principal Richard Green said Wednesday afternoon that he knew the police investigation had been referred to the prosecutor’s office, “but we have not been given any details.”

During a school board meeting Wednesday night, Green said not much could be shared about the school’s ongoing investigation.

Corrinne Turner, mother of a Lisbon High School student, said the investigation process in the early days was unacceptable because her son was questioned without her knowledge. She said her son had problems at home and at school after athletes on the football team were singled out in front of their classmates for interviews about alleged hazing. She said students and staff made comments about the football team and its athletes.

“He had no idea why he was being questioned. … He was very upset, very emotional and thought he was going to prison,” Turner said. “He had no idea why he was being questioned and at that point I was very, very angry about why I hadn’t been notified so I could be there to support my child.”

Like many parents and coaches at the meeting, Turner said the school district needs to focus on the mental health of athletes and dedicate resources to them. Turner said the only support for student-athletes’ mental health was asking them in a group of about 15 people “if anyone needed anything.”

“My son was interviewed on October 2nd,” Turner continued. “This is almost a month that we see that no one has helped my son. … I didn’t see anything from anyone asking how they were doing.”

When Green told committee members that school administrators had contacted parents with resources for their children, many parents in the room shook their heads.

Turner approached the podium again and berated Green for not caring and for lying about parent contact that she and other parents in the audience said never took place.

Green responded that in his more than two decades with the district, he has always put students and their well-being first. As far as the school board reaching out to parents and offering resources, he said he simply told the board what the school board told him.

“Mistakes were made,” Green said. “This is the first time we are dealing with something like this. … I will look into this and find out why these (emails) were not sent.”

The hazing allegations first came to light on Oct. 4, when Green announced that the school’s varsity football team would forfeit its game that evening at Mountain Valley.

Lisbon has since lost a second game and the school announced that seven soccer players had been removed from the team. Lisbon has not allowed football-related activities since its last training session on October 3rd.

Green said that as of late Wednesday afternoon, no decision had been made regarding Saturday’s game against Medomak Valley.

McGee did not comment on the school’s separate investigation, but said he was encouraged by the “good working relationship” between the community, school and police.

“This is an extremely small group of individuals. I would say Lisbon has a strong culture of supportive community and we’re dealing with a very small group of youth that really doesn’t reflect the community,” McGee said.

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