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Las Vegas (N.M.) teen accepts plea bargaining: KOB-TV report

A former Robertson High School football player on Tuesday pleaded no contest to the charges against him stemming from hazing incidents at a football camp last summer.In exchange for Santiago Armijo’s pleas to two counts of attempted criminal sexual penetration, prosecutors agreed not to charge him as an adult.

Armijo was one of six teammates accused of sodomizing younger players with a broomstick during the football camp.

“The bottom line for Santiago is that he wanted to put this behind him as best he could, accept responsibility for his involvement, even though it was more limited than other people, and try to move forward,” said Stephen Aarons, Armijo’s attorney.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Armijo could be incarcerated until he’s 21 during sentencing on April 24. He could also be called to testify against his former teammates.

“In terms of what his value will be, I think there are only certain things that the participant can testify to,” said prosecutor Henry Valdez. “That’s something I would be interested in getting before a jury.”

Until sentencing, Armijo is free but is required to wear an ankle monitor.

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, 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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