Zimmer to try Long Island youths as adults

By TOM KANE

HONESDALE, PA — Wayne District Attorney Mark R. Zimmer announced on October 7 that he will seek to try three Long Island high school football players as adults.

The final decision will be made by Judge Robert J. Conway of the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas.

The threesome is accused of sodomizing three younger players while the team was attending a summer football camp in Wayne CoACunty.

The accused are 15 years old, 16 years old and 17 years old; all are from Long Island.

The trio victimized one 13 year old and two 14 year olds.

Zimmer gave several reasons for his decision.

First, the crimes are horrific.

“If these cases were in the criminal system, one of the defendants would be charged with 26 felonies and the other two with 15 felonies each,” he said

The second reason: all three of the defendants now are over the age of 16.

“Although the youngest was 15 at the time of the acts, he turned 16 the week afterwards,” Zimmer said. “This means that in their home state of New York, two out of three were adults at the time of the crimes and all three are now.”

Third, the outrageousness of the conduct of the perpetrators.

“This was not an isolated incident at the camp,” he said. “Rather, it was a pattern of activity that took place over a period of days involving multiple victims.”

Fourth, the impact on the school.

“The life of that school and the education it is pledged to give to its students has been disrupted in ways that it is only beginning to realize now.”

Fifth, the impact the crime has had on the victims and their families.

“They have expressed a fear of going out in public, feeling as though they are humiliated and as if they are the ones being punished,” Zimmer said.

Finally, the individuals charged were all in this together.

“They continued their pattern of activity together,” he said.

Zimmer noted that “these juveniles, like any defendant in the criminal justice system, are entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until they are adjudicated delinquents or found guilty in a court of law.”