Players charged in Carmel hazing turn themselves in to jail

CARMEL, Ind. (WISH) - "It went beyond hazing, they crossed a line," said Hamilton County prosecutor Sonia Leerkamp as she announced charges had been filed against four former Carmel High School basketball players.

Oscar Falodun, Brandon Hoge, Robert Kitzinger and Scott Laskowski have been charged in connection with hazing incidents.  It's a story 24-Hour News 8 first broke back in February . We learned Monday one victim was assaulted on a bus after a basketball game and three victims were assaulted in locker rooms.

The teens are charged as followed:

Oscar Falodun - Battery (Class A Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor)

Brandon Hoge – Battery (Class A Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor)

Robert Kitzinger – Battery (Class A Misdemeanor), Battery (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor)

Scott Laskowski - Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor), Criminal Recklessness (Class B Misdemeanor).

• Read the full indictments

Two of the four will be facing charges in Hendricks County.

The players turned into the Hamilton County Jail Monday afternoon. Falodun, Hoge and Kitzinger will have bond set at $5,000. Lawskoski will have bond set at $3,000.

If convicted, a Class A misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a Class B misdemeanor carries a maximum sentence of 180 days behind bars.

The four seniors have been expelled from school. Arrangements have been made for the teens to graduate. They will not, however, be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies.

The case went to a grand jury in Hamilton County who heard four days of testimony and went through several hours of deliberation before indicting the four teens.

Leerkamp described the decision to send the case to the grand jury saying "using a grand jury was the most effective way to do this. It not only protected the victims, but the accusers and the witnesses."

She explained the lengthy investigation saying "We don’t do our jobs in sound bites and one hour episodes like on TV." Investigators had to “(Make) sure we have the real facts, not hearsay, not speculation, not innuendo,” Leerkamp said.

Carmel Police Assistant Chief Tim Green spoke on behalf of his department saying “I’m confident that we handled this investigation correctly.”

I-Team 8’s Karen Hensel asked specifically about the timeline between the police investigation and the school investigation. She didn't see how the two matched up.

Leerkamp said she could not explain the principal’s response about this case not being a criminal case. She earlier stated, “all I can think is that he had not received all the information and spoke too soon.”

Several media reports speculated race was a motivating factor for the hazing incidents.

“Nothing indicated that race was a factor in this case,” said Hendricks County Prosecutor Patricia Baldwin, “It was more about age.”

I-Team 8 requested the video from the bus on the night in question back in February. Before Monday's news conference there had been no firm answer regarding the tape but I-Team 8 was told it may not exist. Prosecutor Leerkamp announced a time stamped video tape had been found and the tape was seen by the grand jury. She would not go into detail about what was on the tape.