Prosecutors say no charges have been brought in connection with molestation incident at Lisbon high school

LEWISTON — Androscoggin County District Attorney Neil McLean said his office will not pursue any criminal charges against any member of the Lisbon High School football team following an investigation into allegations of molestation.

“Much of what was disclosed was self-described by the minors as ‘horseplay’ or ‘antics,’ and all of the incidents were voluntarily participated in,” McLean said in a written statement Tuesday.

The prosecutor’s description is as follows contradicts the conclusions reached by Portland law firm Drummond Woodsumwho was hired to conduct an independent investigation. A report published last month found a “culture of bullying and brutal treatment” among members of football teams.

This included cases in which players whipped each other with leather straps, at least once, until bruises appeared; at least one instance of a freshman being thrown headfirst into a trash can; and multiple instances where players were trapped behind screen doors and prodded with broomsticks by upperclassmen.

“It is clear that the players generally wanted to be perceived as unruffled. (…) Although they stated that they were willing participants, they obviously did not want adults to know about these activities,” the law firm’s report reads.

Police and school officials conducted two separate investigations, and it was unclear whether they focused on the same incidents or different off-campus incidents that were being investigated solely by police. McLean did not return a voicemail seeking clarification.

At the Lisbon School Committee meeting on Monday evening, athletic director Chris Spaulding said his department has started implementing some changes aimed at preventing future incidents, including greater surveillance.

Reports of harassment reached the district attorney after a Lisbon High School employee received a report of one student pushing another student around school, and police met with the students on October 2. During this meeting, a number of additional complaints were raised regarding multiple other students, all of whom were linked to something that happened off campus on August 24.

There is no statute in Maine that regulates harassment, and while the term has been used publicly in recent months to describe incidents on and off school, the district attorney had to consider whether the reported conduct fell under and violated other existing criminal statutes, McLean explained in a written statement.

Two days after meeting with the school’s resource officer, Lisbon abandoned a football game against Mountain Valley High School in Rumford, and less than a week later, school administrators removed seven players from the football team and suspended all football activities.

Richard Green, Lisbon schools superintendent, said at the time that the decision to expel students stemmed from the school’s internal investigation into an alleged incident involving student harassment on campus.

As the investigation into gambling allegations unfolded, Lisbon abandoned all remaining scheduled football matches.

During the Drummond Woodsum investigation, investigators determined that “hazing has occurred among the Lisbon High School football team this season and possibly in previous seasons.”

Attorneys Tom Trenholm and Kelsey Cromie, who authored the report, interviewed 40 students Oct. 15-23. They asked to speak to every player on the squad from the start of the 2024 season.

Lawyers said many players did not want to provide any details and some appeared visibly nervous during the interview. They added that teachers overheard players telling their teammates not to share details during interviews.

“Some players told us they were told ‘not to say anything’ about what happened,” the report said. “Although they didn’t indicate who told them this, our impression was that it came from other players.”

The report said players told investigators they never reported the incidents to any coach or administrator and tried to classify them as typical “horse play.”

That’s the same word McLean used in his Tuesday statement. He explained that after completing all the interviews and reviewing all the evidence collected by the Lisbon police, there was not enough of it to bring criminal charges against anyone involved in the case.

Because the case involved multiple minors, officials “legally limited what could be disclosed or discussed publicly regarding the details of the investigation,” McLean said.

McLean said his office believes it is “imperative” to listen to students and their families.

“We met with them multiple times to make sure they had every opportunity to explain what happened, who was involved and what the outcome was,” he said.

Lisbon Police Chief Ryan McGee said his department remains in “continuous contact” with the district attorney’s office regarding the case. Although he, too, declined to discuss specifics, McGee said he respected the decision not to press charges.

“We appreciate that the District Attorney’s Office conducted a thorough review. It is important that everyone is heard,” McGee said.

On Monday School Committee meeting in Lisbonmembers discussed the Drummond Woodsum report published last month. Spaulding, the athletic director, told members that his department is taking steps outlined in the report to prevent future threats, including limiting locker room access before practices.

“We continue to increase supervision in the locker rooms, we have screwed down trash cans … and (we are conducting) substance abuse prevention courses for all coaches,” Spaulding said, adding that his department is also considering such cases. courses for student-athletes.

Football coach Chris Kates said the locker room should only be open for 15 minutes in the morning for players to drop off personal items and 30 minutes before scheduled practices.

Kates said the doors simply need to remain closed until training supervision needs to be improved. When classes end around 3 p.m. and practices don’t start for another hour and a half, the team’s eight coaches may have difficulty controlling the 50 student-athletes, he said.

He said three anti-hazing organizations have contacted Spaulding to offer help in taking next steps to prevent it.

Neither commission Chairwoman Margaret Galligan-Schmoll nor Vice Chairwoman Kim Labbe-Poisson responded to a voicemail Tuesday in which they discussed the report’s findings or the district attorney’s decision.

Sun Journal writers Joe Charpentier and Haley Jones contributed to this story

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