Flower Mound: Teacher posts bond; students must surrender today

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 16, 2005
By BRANDON FORMBY / The Dallas Morning News

A Flower Mound High School teacher and 18 students began turning themselves in to police Thursday after they were charged this week in connection with hazing allegations at a wrestling team party.

Charles Zascavage, who faces a misdemeanor hazing charge, turned himself in at the Denton County Jail on Thursday and was released after he posted a $500 bond. Mr. Zascavage, 44, who was stripped of his head wrestling coach duties by school officials Wednesday, could not be reached for comment.

Dustin Everett, 17, turned himself in to Flower Mound police Thursday afternoon. He faces three counts of assault and one count of hazing and is being held at the Flower Mound Jail in lieu of $2,000 bail.

Mr. Zascavage, five students who were charged as adults and 13 juveniles were charged in connection with an Aug. 27 party that included the punching and slapping of five underclassmen. Three students, who are juveniles, also face felony sexual assault charges, police said.

By Thursday evening, 12 juveniles had turned themselves in to Flower Mound police. Nine of those juveniles were later released to their parents, police said. The three juveniles facing aggravated sexual assault charges were transferred to the Denton County juvenile detention center.

The five remaining suspects – four adults and one juvenile – are required to turn themselves in by 6 p.m. today, said police spokesman Wendell Mitchell. The names of the other four students charged as adults will not be released until they turn themselves in. The other students charged will not be named because they are juveniles.

"We're on schedule," he said. "Everybody has been cooperating."

Ever since George and Karen Grogan threw a party for the Flower Mound wrestling team two years ago when their son Eric was a team member, the event has become an annual tradition. At their party, they said, there was plenty of roughhousing, ball tossing and pool dunking as parents and girlfriends came and went. But there was nothing, they said, that was close to hazing.

Their younger son, Kirk, is a 14-year-old freshman team member who attended this year's party at another location. When Mr. and Mrs. Grogan heard of the recent allegations, they were shocked. Kirk told them that while some team members horsed around, he didn't see, experience or participate in anything that could be construed as hazing. They also talked to parents who were at the party, they said.

"What they have told us and what we firmly believe is it was just boys horsing around," Mr. Grogan said.

But Mary Alice McLarty, an attorney for two of the accusers, says her clients sustained serious bruises and marks at the party.

"That's over the top," she said. "You can be sure we do not think this is clean fun."

Ms. McLarty said one of the team members was slapped so hard that a red handprint could be seen on his skin for days after the party. One of the partygoers, she said, went to the hospital because he had been hit so hard he was afraid his spleen had been bruised.

Police said the five accusers were new team members. The party was held at a house in the 3000 block of River Bend believed to be a 16-year-old team member's home.

Police began investigating the party after a parent of one of the team's new members reported the alleged hazing. After the inquiry began, another student came forward and said he had been sexually assaulted at the party. A relative of one of the accusers said some team members put condoms on their fingers and sexually assaulted a teammate.

The hazing and assault charges faced by the students and school official are misdemeanors. Hazing is a Class B misdemeanor, carrying a jail term of up to 180 days and a fine of up to $1,000. Assault is a Class A misdemeanor carrying a jail term of up to one year and a fine of up to $4,000.

The district also punished 16 wrestling team members Wednesday. Officials released few details but said the students could be suspended or placed in a disciplinary alternative school. Two more students may be punished based on the criminal charges, a school official said.

District officials declined again Thursday to say whether the accused students were removed from the wrestling team. District policy bans students in the disciplinary school from extracurricular activities. Flower Mound High athletic coordinator Cody Venderford declined to comment. Principal Jack Clark did not return phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

The incident has divided parents of wrestling team members. About 40 people defending the coach and accused students gathered in front of the district's Flower Mound headquarters Wednesday morning, demanding a meeting with Superintendent Jerry Roy.

Dr. Roy met with the group for an hour.

Mr. and Mrs. Grogan said several people are standing behind Mr. Zascavage because he has long been an excellent mentor to the teenagers. Several parents have difficulty believing he knew of or participated in the alleged hazing, they said.

"This is a good man," Mr. Grogan said. "There is no way I can believe he was aware of or tolerated any of that activity."

Staff writers Jay Parsons and Damon Sayles contributed to this report.

E-mail: bformby@dallasnews.com

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