Steven Porter

sporter@jconline.com

Two former Clinton Prairie High School students face felony charges stemming from allegations that they bullied a freshman on multiple occasions inside a school locker room earlier this spring.

Kyle Johnson, 19, and Austin Martin, 18, appeared in Clinton Superior Court Tuesday afternoon to face six charges each: three counts of Class D felony criminal confinement and three counts of Class B misdemeanor battery.

The charges involved three incidents since spring break in which the underclassman was grabbed, tickled and slapped, and was touched on or around his butt.

The juvenile victim, a 15-year-old freshman, reported that Martin made comments to Johnson after gym class on three separate occasions about inserting fingers into the victim's"rear end."

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim told investigators that Martin restrained him "in a bear hug fashion," pinning him against a locker or wall while Johnson would slap the victim's butt "and lift up hard on his butt cheeks."

The victim reported that he was wearing shorts or underwear when each of the three incidents occurred.

Two juveniles who witnessed the locker room incidents corroborated the victim's account in essence.

Indiana State Police reported earlier in May that they were investigating the allegations as possible incidents of "sexual battery." The formal charges brought against Johnson and Martin, however, don't allege misconduct of a sexual nature.

Sommer said the charges are based on the findings of ISP's investigation. Additional charges could be filed at a later date if further information comes to light.

"Initially there were overtones of a sexual nature to the complaint," he said, "because witnesses had recounted that there was taunting that accompanied these batteries and confinement."

"Those taunts involved threats that they were going to assault his person in the nature of inserting a finger in his anus," he said.

Sommer said the victim wasn't the first to report the incidents to school personnel.

"Initially it came to the attention of other students because there was an Instragram video that was posted to Snapchat," he said, "and because of that conduct, other students came forward and caused school authorities to look into the incident."

Sommer said that prosecutors don't currently have access to the video but that such a recording would be submitted as evidence if it were to become available.

Instagram and Snapchat are mobile apps used to share still images and videos. Most content shared via Snapchat can only be viewed by the recipient for a maximum of 10 seconds before being automatically deleted.

The three Class D felonies faced by each defendant could possibly be entered as Class A misdemeanors, Sommer said, if the mitigating factors substantially outweigh the aggravating factors in the case. That won't be determined until much later in the process, though.

"The truth is something we discern after a long, vigorous process," he said.

Sommer said the victim was not injured.

Johnson and Martin each posted $500 cash bond after being booked at the Clinton County Jail.

The defendants had been seniors on course to graduate, but they were "suspended pending expulsion" after repeated incidents of locker room abuse were alleged, said Superintendent Chris Sampson.

He said Tuesday that the expulsion process had concluded for one of the two defendants.

When a student is expelled, Sampson said, he or she has the opportunity to earn "recovery credits" through an online education program offered by the school. The students won't be permitted to walk for graduation, but they could earn a diploma on their own time, he said.

While parents haven't complained to him directly, Sampson said some people have taken to "anonymous blogs" to voice concerns about the lack of information being released by Clinton Prairie officials concerning the locker room bullying.

Sampson said he and other school administrators have communicated in a timely and comprehensive manner with everyone directly involved.

"This is a discipline incident that involved three kids, and we've dealt with the folks involved," he said, noting that if more students were at risk, then more students would've been notified of that risk.

In response to the incident, the school ramped up adult supervision in the locker rooms, but Sampson said bullying is a problem that has cropped up pretty much everywhere.

"I think everybody is keenly aware of the bullying situation that permeates our society," he said. "It permeates all levels of society."