The junior varsity football coach at a Maryland high school is on leave while authorities investigate allegations that some of his players raped a teammate with a broomstick.

Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman Derek Turner tells news outlets Damascus High School coach Vincent Colbert was put on leave last month.

Four teens are charged as juveniles with rape and attempted rape in the attacks on four others. The suspects and victims have said it was part of a locker-room hazing ritual.

The Washington Post reported that Colbert was the first school official to know about the October attack and that the school system waited hours to alert police. The system said it would hire an outside firm to investigate its procedures and reporting practices.