Two boys, 15, face charges for bus incident

Two of six students involved in a Sept. 12 incident on a Glacier High School freshman football bus now are facing criminal sexual assault charges.

One youth was charged with sexual assault and the other was charged with accountability to sexual assault, according to a press release issued Wednesday afternoon by the Kalispell Police Department.

Both the Glacier freshmen facing charges are 15 years old. The two have been charged in Flathead County Youth Court.

The bus incident involved as many as eight victims.

“As a result of the Kalispell Police Department’s investigation, the actions of two of the six suspects met the necessary elements of criminal activity,” the press release stated.

The remaining four freshmen are clear of any criminal wrongdoing, although the school administration still may punish them further for violations of policy.

All six were suspended from school and kicked off the football team.

The charges and preceding investigations stem from initial reports to police from parents and grandparents of football players and at least one girl on the bus that several players were taken to the back of the bus, assaulted and molested by their teammates.

The football team was returning from a victory in Missoula when the incident occurred.

School Resource Officer Jason Parce, who led a criminal investigation following a school investigation, said in an interview that it’s up to the County Attorney’s Office to pursue the charges.

He also said Kalispell police will not release the individuals’ names, but the court may choose to do so.

“They [the County Attorney’s Office] will have my report on Friday, and from there they can act on it,” Parce said. “Next week is when they’ll really get the chance to sit down and review this case.”

Parce shared some details uncovered by the investigation, including the fact that the bus did have a video camera on it. However, he said that camera was inoperable and no footage of the incident exists.

“Quite frankly, the camera footage, had it even existed, wouldn’t have shown anything because the bus was completely dark,” he said. “That’s pretty much null and void.”

He also said the person driving the bus was a regular bus driver for the school district, not a coach or volunteer. One coach resigned after the incident, and one volunteer adult who was on the bus also stepped down. The coaches were sleeping during the alleged sex crimes.

During the investigation, police interviewed “all victims and their families, witnesses and suspects,” the press release stated.

Although Parce said he wasn’t shocked by the bus incident, he said he was disappointed.

“In law enforcement, most things don’t surprise you, especially because in today’s day and age I can tell you that things have changed. Society’s changed even since I was in high school 10 years ago, things have changed a lot. We need to understand that. Law enforcement understands that,” Parce said. “Do they disappoint us? Yeah, because no one wants to believe this happens in our schools.”

Parce went on to say that such problems are not limited to Glacier High School or the Flathead Valley, but that they are reflective of society.

“If you have the problems in society, you’re going to have the problems in your school,” Parce said. “Law enforcement understands that because we’re dealing with it on an everyday basis.”

He also said the crimes allegedly committed represent only a very small minority of the student population at Glacier High School and that the absence of reports of such activity at other schools does not mean it isn’t happening.

He credited the discovery of the full implications of this incident to the school administration taking an active role in the investigation.

“Not much slips by them. Not much slips by us as a team,” Parce said. “The fact that they are very proactive and we uncover these problems, people should understand that means we’re doing something about it.”

He praised the school’s administration for “taking immediate action” to protect the students involved by doling out punishment for violations of school policy.

Along those lines, he said his response to concerned parents who have called him over the past two weeks asking if their children were safe at the school was, without hesitation: “Absolutely.”

“From my understanding and from my being here and talking with some of the parents of the people involved and talking with the school is that the school is doing everything they can right now to take care of these kids,” Parce said.

However, he did have one word of caution for the public as the case against the two who were charged continues to move forward.

“These kids are innocent until proven guilty,” Parce said. “It’s important that people understand and respect that.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.