A mother of a Gunnison High School student will file a lawsuit against the South Sanpete School District over an ongoing sexual assault case.
Misty Cox accuses the district and school administrators of fostering an environment that allowed three boys to allegedly assault several others, including her son.
The lawsuit claims that the school district knew about similar cases involving the suspects over the last two years, but classified them as horseplay.
“Defendants … by their acts and omissions, created a hostile educational climate where student-on-student sexual assaults and harassment were consciously tolerated, which encouraged repeated sexual harassment,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit states, on Sept. 17, before the start of football practice, two players tackled and pinned the 14-year-old teen to the ground while a third rubbed his genitals on the boy’s face.
The lawsuit also claims administrators did nothing to stop the suspects from harassing victims after they reported the assaults.
That 16-year-old, whom Mid-Utah Radio has chosen not to name, was charged on Sept. 28 in Sanpete County’s 6th District Juvenile Court with six counts of object rape, a first-degree felony, and five counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
The two other teens accused of holding down the victim were each charged with forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
