Updated at 2:30 p.m. with prosecutor's comment and to note that the charges against the coach and the players are misdemeanors.

A former soccer coach at Forney High School was booked into the Kaufman County Jail on Wednesday, more than a year after a hazing case led to sex charges against several boys on his team.

Kristopher Duplissey is accused of not reporting allegations of sexual assault among his soccer players. (Kaufman County Sheriff)

Kristopher Duplissey, 41, was arrested on a charge of failure to report the allegations of sexual assault among his players. The Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail. He remains in the Kaufman County Jail in lieu of $3,500 bail.

Court records made public more than a year ago showed that school officials, including the coach, knew of the accusations weeks before they were reported to authorities. Duplissey is the first educator charged in the case.

Marc Moffit, Kaufman County first assistant district attorney, said it took a year to arrest the coach because of the large number of people to interview. He declined to provide details of the investigation into the sexual assault allegations.

"These are always very complicated and time-consuming investigations," he said. "You want to talk to everyone you can who is involved."

Five team members — including one who was legally an adult — were taken into custody in January 2018 after at least two teammates said they were sexually assaulted. One said he had been sodomized in 2015 and again during the 2017 soccer season.

Forney ISD officials said in a written statement that the district made changes to increase safety and supervision after the allegations. The district did not detail the changes.

"The students who engaged in these behaviors were appropriately disciplined in accordance with the FISD Student Code of Conduct. Additionally, all FISD coaches, as well as all campus faculty and staff, completed refresher training regarding their obligations to report child abuse (including student-on-student hazing) to law enforcement and/or Child Protective Services," the statement said. "We understand that this ordeal has caused a great deal of heartache and pain within our community. Forney ISD recognizes our community is ready to move beyond this difficult experience, and we are continuing to focus on the safety and security of our students, both on and off the field."

Most of the team members accused were juveniles. The status of those cases was not immediately clear Wednesday.

Court records don't indicate whether Duplissey has an attorney. A woman who answered the phone at a number associated with Duplissey declined to comment Wednesday afternoon.

Duplissey resigned from the school district in March 2018, a district spokeswoman said.

The investigation

On Jan. 17, 2018, the school district's human resources director reported to a Kaufman County sheriff's deputy that there may have been a sexual assault involving the soccer team.

A search warrant suggests that school administrators "unilaterally" continued looking into the allegations while law enforcement investigated. But that's not what then-Superintendent Suzanne McWilliams said in a letter to parents. She wrote that the district stopped its investigation after notifying authorities.

The district's written statement Wednesday said it has not conducted its own investigation. The district did not address whether school officials conducted an unofficial investigation.

The search warrant made public last year showed that the deputies were looking for electronic communications involving Principal Steve Whiffen, Assistant Principal Tim Cook, Athletic Coordinator Kevin Rush and Duplissey, the coach.

Whiffen, Cook and Rush are no longer in their positions. McWilliams retired, as did Rush. Whiffen left the school to become principal of the Forney Academic Center.

The warrant detailed the timeline of the investigation into the allegations. The day before the allegations were reported to authorities, the athletic coordinator wrote notes on a typed victim statement regarding the assaults.

On Jan. 29, 2018, the principal gave a sheriff's deputy a flagpole crank, allegedly used in the assault, that he had received from Rush, the athletic coordinator. The principal, Whiffen, told the investigator that he kept the crank in a safe in case "law enforcement deemed it of evidentiary value," a search warrant says.

The school district's code of conduct requires that administrators investigate reports of bullying and finalize a written report of the complaint and result of the investigation within 10 district business days.

Forney High squared off against Poteet High on Jan. 30, 2018, at Poteet High School in Mesquite. The game followed sexual assault allegations and five Forney players being taken into custody. (Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer)

It's unclear whether the principals, coach or athletic director completed a written report on the investigation during that time.

One soccer player alleged that 18-year-old Jacob Fisher and three other players attacked him about 10 times. The assaults happened between January and September or October 2017 in locker rooms used by the soccer team, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Fisher and the two others assaulted the teammate by pushing pens and fingers through the victim's soccer shorts while he was held down by the attackers, the affidavit said.

A second player made similar allegations about two teammates. Others have since come forward saying they were sexually assaulted, but it's unclear how many.

The assaults occurred weekly, according to court testimony.

Moffit, the Kaufman County prosecutor, said Fisher is no longer facing a felony charge. A Class B misdemeanor hazing charge is pending against Fisher.

He declined to discuss the cases against the juveniles.

Fisher was charged as an adult. The other four students were under 17 at the time of the alleged assaults and their cases were handled in juvenile court. The Dallas Morning News does not generally name minors accused of crimes.

Pete Schulte, an attorney for one of the juveniles, said the cases against the minors were reduced to hazing, a Class B misdemeanor. He said the cases against the minors have been resolved but didn't respond to questions asking for details about the outcome.