Ooltewah students charged with rape, assault after teammate injured with pool cue

The boy was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville where he underwent surgery

Ooltewah High School is photographed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, near Chattanooga, Tenn.
Ooltewah High School is photographed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, near Chattanooga, Tenn.

Three former Ooltewah High School basketball players are charged with aggravated rape and assault after a teammate was assaulted days before Christmas.

The students charged are minors, and though charges have been filed only in connection with the assault of one student, sources close to the situation confirm three additional members of the team were hazed in the incident.

One freshman was seriously injured when a pool cue was forced inside his rectum, puncturing his colon and the tip of the cue breaking off in his bladder, multiple sources told the Times Free Press.

photo Ooltewah High School is photographed on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, near Chattanooga, Tenn.

The assault allegedly took place on Dec. 22 in the basement of a cabin on Laurel Mountain Road in Gatlinburg, Tenn., which the team was renting while it played in the Smoky Mountain Classic basketball tournament.

The three boys charged in the incident were dismissed from the basketball team and are being held at the Sevier County Juvenile Detention Facility awaiting bond hearings scheduled for today.

The names of the boys will not be released because they are under age 18, and school officials said a decision hasn't been made about the boys' punishment because school is out for the holidays.

After the assault, the boy's coach drove him to Leconte Medical Center, and hospital staff then informed the Gatlinburg Police Department that an assault had taken place at the rental cabin, according to the Gatlinburg Police Department.

After receiving some treatment the boy returned to the cabin, where his condition worsened. An ambulance was called to transport him to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville where he underwent surgery, police said.

Gatlinburg police are handling the investigation.

Ooltewah High Schools athletic director Jesse Nayadley, who has a freshman son on the team, said the police have determined only three boys from the team were involved in the incident.

Nayadley said at least three chaperones were on the trip, including head coach Andrew Montgomery and his wife and an assistant coach.

Sources close to the situation said the chaperones were not in the basement of the cabin when the assault took place.

Neither Montgomery nor Ooltewah High School Principal Jim Jarvis would comment Tuesday.

Nayadley said all the proper procedures were followed for the trip, and as far as he knows Montgomery did everything he could to handle the situation.

"I have no reason to believe the coaches did anything wrong," Nayadley said. "We've heard nothing that would give us any reason to look at coach Montgomery."

Ooltewah High School's basketball team has played three games since the incident.

Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow on twitter @kendi_and

Contact staff writer Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.

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