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School officials reviewing policies in wake of rape case

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By TOM BRENNAN | The Tampa Tribune
and ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 4, 2009

Updated: 06/04/2009 01:23 pm

Related Links

• Suspects charged in 'multiple incidents'
• Suspects in court

Diemante Roberts

Lee Myers

Randall Moye

Raymond Price-Murray

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County school district's office of professional standards, an internal affairs-like division for the school system, is reviewing the events that led to four students being charged with multiple sexual attacks on a 13-year-old boy at Walker Middle School, a top administrator said today.

Two of the four teens charged in the rape case were released on bail today; another was released on bail Wednesday evening. The four are accused of repeatedly raping a 13-year-old flag-football teammate in a school locker room. Prosecutors say they had bullied the boy for weeks. All five youngsters attended Walker Middle.

While no policy specifically governs the supervision of students in school locker rooms, a coach or teacher must supervise the children in their care, whether they're in a locker room or not, said Lewis Brinson, the district's assistant superintendent for administration.

The district now is asking if the boy's attackers – who prosecutors say are his four classmates – were in the locker room without their coach's permission.

"It's extremely difficult to have an adult in every place," Brinson said today, one day after prosecutors said the victim was attacked multiple times since early March. But, he added, "if a child is under your supervision, you supervise them."

Two defendants, Lee Louis Myers and Raymond A. Price-Murray, both 14, left Orient Road Jail about 8:50 a.m. on $15,000 bail. Deputies were heading to the teens' houses to install electronic monitoring equipment.

Another defendant, Randall John Moye, 14, went home at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The fourth teen charged in the case, 15-year-old Diemante Roberts, remains in jail. Jail officials say he has posted bail but has not yet been released because his monitoring system is still being set up.

The four teens were booked into jail Wednesday afternoon after pleading not guilty. Bail was set at $15,000. The teens are charged as adults and each faces four counts of sexual battery. If convicted, they could face up to 30 years on each count.

Myers, Price-Murray and Roberts each was given his own cell in the inmate pod of the jail's administrative housing wing, officials said.

Inmate housing depended on what was available, and the teens were treated like any other inmate, said Debbie Carter, a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

"There wasn't anything special," she said.

Myers was the first to post bail this morning. He had no comment as he walked out.
Price-Murray walked out moments later. He also had no comment.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Wayne S. Timmerman ordered Myers, Price-Murray and Roberts to wear an electronic monitor while awaiting trial. The teens will wear ankle bracelets that transmit to a receiver at their home, keeping deputies apprised of their whereabouts.

Moye is living with his father in Lake County but must undergo monitoring if he returns to Hillsborough County.

Timmerman also ordered the teens not to have direct or indirect contact with the alleged victim, his family, their former teammates or each other.

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