Florida: Broom Handle Teen Rapists Charged As Adults

The four Florida middle school students arrested last month for raping a fellow student with a broom handle were charged as adults today in a Tampa court.

At a bond and arraignment hearing, the defendants appeared before Hillsborough County Judge Wayne Timmerman to hear the counts against them read in court. Prosecutor Kimberly Hindman described to the court how two defendants held down the victim while the other two defendants violently sodomized him with the sticks. "The victim screamed and cried, telling them to stop," Hindman said. The prosecutor said the victim's screams could be heard outside the boys' locker room at Walker Middle School, in southern Tampa, where the allegedly assaults took place. Multiple people witnessed the attacks, but no one reported the incidents, including the victim, Hindman said.

Multiple witnesses, but none came forward because they knew they'd be next. And the Christianist right continues to try to block anti-bullying ordinances, making them rapist enablers.