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Defendants' statements: Others may have seen Walker Middle rape

Tribune file photo

Lee Myers, Raymond Price-Murray, Randall Moye and Diemante Roberts were each charged with four counts of sexual battery.

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KATE CALDWELL, News Channel 8 and JOSH POLTILOVE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 31, 2009

Updated: 07/31/2009 01:47 pm

Four former Walker Middle School flag football players have been charged with the crime, but more teammates could have witnessed a sexual assault on a fellow student, according to court documents.

Two of the four players accused of sexually assaulting a flag football teammate told authorities that several people were involved in attacking the boy with a hockey stick, according to statements from the teens obtained by News Channel 8 and first reported Thursday on TBO.com.

The story was taken down from the Web site after a judge signed an emergency order stopping TBO.com, The Tampa Tribune and News Channel 8 from running stories with the teen defendants' statements. That order was reversed Friday after the media outlets' attorneys appealed the injunction at a hearing.

Authorities say the four teens bullied the boy for weeks before sexually assaulting him with a broomstick and hockey stick in a locker room at the school. Lee Louis Myers, 14, Raymond A. Price-Murray, 14, Randall John Moye, 14, and Diemante Roberts, 15, have been charged as adults. Each faces four counts of sexual battery and has pleaded not guilty.

The teens' statements, which are sometimes meandering and rife with misspellings, make it difficult to understand when the incidents occurred and exactly what happened.

Still, one thing comes into focus: three of the boys say friction already existed between Roberts and the victim before the alleged attack occurred.

Roberts and the boy had an argument on the football field and Price-Murray said Roberts became annoyed after the boy was unable to pull flags during a drill, according to the documents.

When the boy missed a flag for a second time, Roberts made another comment, Price-Murray said. Price-Murray and Roberts said that the boy got mad and yelled at Roberts on the field.

Roberts said there was horseplay and banter between him and the boy. After the exchange, the boy threw a punch and Roberts said he struck back.

Roberts said the boy yelled at him again in the locker room and slammed his hands on a table. Roberts said he stood up to scare him and the boy chased him. A coach separated the two. Roberts later said he didn't want to fight the boy. In a second statement, Roberts wrote that Price-Murray went behind the bleachers and got a broomstick and said they should use it on the boy. Roberts said teammates pulled the victim's pants down and assaulted him.

"First time it was a broomstick and the second time it was a hockey stick," Roberts wrote.

Price-Murray wrote that he and other eighth-graders were "just goofing off" and dog piled on the victim before a sexual assault occurred. He said he didn't sexually assault the boy, but that Roberts and another boy, who was not arrested or charged, did.

Myers agreed there was an incident in the locker room, but said that no one wanted to hurt the boy and made no mention of a sexual assault. Myers said he, Moye and Price-Murray held the boy down while Roberts hit the victim on the buttocks with a hockey stick.

The incident lasted about 15-20 seconds, Myers said. "After it happened, I walked up and said we were just playing around and didn't mean to hurt his feelings," Myers wrote.

The four defendants' statements were given the day after the incident. A school spokesman said today he wasn't sure if their parents were told that their children were being questioned. The statements were given to school personnel, and possibly a school resource law enforcement officer, said Hillsborough County school district spokesman Steve Hegarty.

The four defendants were called in the morning after the allegations surfaced.

"That's when the kids started talking about what happened," Hegarty said.

Hegarty said he was unaware if the defendants had their parents there when they told their stories or if they had legal representation.

"I just don't recall," he said, "if parents were notified."

The statements indicate there was some bullying going on between the defendants and the victim prior to the incident, Hegarty said, but there was no indication of widespread bullying. That day, Hegarty said, "The coach noticed something going on on the football field that indicated that there was a larger problem."

None of the school staff has been disciplined because of the incident, Hegarty said.

Two of the charges against the teens accuse them of committing a sexual battery involving a hockey stick and broomstick between March 1 and April 24; the two other charges say the crimes occurred between April 27 and April 29 and also involved a hockey stick and broomstick.

It's not clear from the boy's statements which incident the boys are discussing with authorities.

In previous hearings, Assistant State Attorney Kim Hindman said Myers and Moye held the victim down while Roberts and Price-Murray assaulted him.

The case was first investigated by school officials, who called in law enforcement. The four teens were arrested May 6.

Parents of other flag football team members interviewed Thursday night say their sons didn't see any incidents of bullying.

Joe Trumbach said his two sons who played on the flag football team weren't aware of any bullying. He said his sons didn't witness the incidents described in the court documents and that he never had any sense anything was amiss with the team.

"I couldn't believe anything like this would ever happen," Trumbach said.

Dave Fulda said his son, who plays on the school's sixth-grade flag football team, told investigators that he never saw any of the bullying or the assaults outlined by authorities.

The four suspects play on the school's seventh- and eighth-grade team, Fulda said. Two of the teens charged have been to Fulda's home.

"I just can't believe they'd have done it," Fulda said. He added that he could understand if the incident were locker-room pranks and teasing, "but if it went beyond that, Lord help them," he said.

Since his arrest, Moye has moved to Lake County to live with his father, and he hasn't had contact with the boy or the co-defendants, court records show.

In the file, 10 people wrote character letters on Price-Murray's behalf.

Latoya Williams of Tampa wrote May 12 that she has known Price-Murray for more than 10 years and that he is respectful and an excellent student.

"I am fully confident that Raymond would never hurt anyone intentional or unintentionally, he has always exhibited a care and concern for other's personal well being, while offering assistance to anyone who needs his help," Williams wrote.

Family friend Kenya Lacey of Tampa wrote May 13 that Price-Murray is caring and helpful.

"I have been impressed with his dedication to his faith in God, his education and the rules his mother has put [in] place for him," Lacey wrote. "Raymond demonstrates a giving and generous nature. I pray that you will take the time to see the person we all know, and not the one the media is portraying him to be."

Tribune reporters Baird Helgeson and Ray Reyes contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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