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Hazing News

Deseret News story

Excerpt A second Vernal Junior High School wrestler has been ordered to serve at least 22 days in a youth detention center for his role in a sexually based hazing incident on a school bus.

The 14-year-old entered an admission this week in 8th District Juvenile Court to an amended allegation of attempted forcible sex abuse, which would be a third-degree felony if the boy were an adult.

In exchange for his plea, Duchesne County prosecutors agreed to request the dismissal of a hazing allegation against the teen.

The boy — one of three wrestlers referred to juvenile court following an incident last year on a Uintah School District bus — was ordered to perform 188 hours of community service and undergo a sexual behavior risk assessment, in addition to serving time in the Split Mountain Youth Detention Center.

The teen must also complete any treatment recommended as a result of the risk assessment.

On Dec. 4, the three teens engaged in individual lewd acts at the back of a bus returning from a wrestling tournament in Morgan, according to the Duchesne County Sheriff’s Office.

They then wiped bodily fluids on their teammates, investigators said. The incident was recorded by surveillance cameras in the bus.

In February, one of the wrestlers entered an admission to attempted forcible sex abuse in exchange for the dismissal of the hazing count.

By Hank Nuwer

Journalist Hank Nuwer tracks hazing deaths in fraternities and schools. Nuwer is the Alaska author of Hazing: Destroying Young Lives; Broken Pledges: The Deadly Rite of Hazing, High School Hazing, Wrongs of Passage and The Hazing Reader. In April of 2024 and April 2025 , the Alaska Press Club awarded him first place in the Best Columnist division and Best Humorist, second place.

He has written articles or columns on hazing for the Sunday Times of India, Toronto Globe & Mail, Harper's Magazine, Orlando Sentinel, The Chronicle of Higher Education and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. His current book is Hazing: Destroying Young Lives from Indiana University Press. He is married to Malgorzata Wroblewska Nuwer of Warsaw, Poland and Fairbanks, Alaska. Nuwer is a former columnist for the Greenville (Ohio)Early Bird and former managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in Alaska.
Nuwer was named the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists columnist of the year in 2021 for his “After Darke” column in the Early Bird. He also won third place for the column in 2022 from the Indiana chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He and his wife Gosia, recently of Union City, Ind., have owned 20 acres in Alaska for many years. “The move is a sort-of coming home for us,” said Nuwer. As a journalist, he’s written about the Alaskan Iditarod sled-dog race and other Alaska topics. Read his musings in his blog at Real Alaska Daily--http://realalaskadaily.com and in his weekly column "Far from Randolph" in the Winchester Star-Gazette of Randolph County, Indiana.

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