Authorities have charged four coaches and six players on the Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, high school football team with crimes in a disturbing hazing scandal.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday that the Cheltenham High School football players allegedly attacked their 15-year-old sophomore teammate in the locker room, and the coaches did not deal with it or stop it from happening.
An investigation launched in September of 2025 found two separate incidents: one on August 15, 2025, and one on September 3, 2025. During the investigation, authorities discovered that at least one of the reported incidents had been captured on camera.
In the footage, teammates can be seen watching as the victim is restrained and prodded in the buttocks with a broom. According to investigators, “about 19 students who witnessed the assault made no attempt to stop the event.” The victim said that the players’ need to board a bus was the sole reason the assault halted. Investigators say there were no coaches in the locker room when the attack occurred.
Two of the football coaches allegedly told the victim not to tell his mother because “they would handle it,” but failed to notify the school administration at the time.
Four days after the assault, the victim’s mother found out about the assault from a friend and took him to the clinic for his genital injuries. The school district said it was unaware of the incident until 15 days after it happened, when it received an anonymous report through the Safe2Say app. This led to the early termination of the 2025 football season one month later and the start of an outside investigation. Cheltenham High School officials also canceled the 2026 football season.
The local district attorney speaks out
“These assaults on a football player were not the typical goofing around by teammates. These were crimes,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele.
“Numerous witnesses, many reluctant to share what they saw and knew, testified about what occurred in the Cheltenham High School locker room on these two occasions and testified about actions taken by some of the football coaches after the assaults.
“After carefully considering all of the testimony and evidence, including reviewing the recovered videos of one of the assaults, the Grand Jury recommended charges against the four juveniles, two other football players and four coaches.”
The four football coaches were each charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child (EWOC) and Conspiracy to EWOC. Two football players, who were 18-years-old at the time of the incidents, were charged with Conspiracy to Aggravated Assault, Simple Assault, Recklessly Endangering Another Person and related offenses, while another was charged with false swearing. Four other football players who were juveniles at the time face a variety of charges based on their conduct during the locker room incidents and afterward. All of the players and coaches facing charges have reportedly either turned themselves in or are planning to do so in the near future.