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At least 3 victims in alleged hazing incident at Nodaway Valley H.S.

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January 12th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

Greenfield Police Chief Austin O’Brien says there were at least three victims of alleged hazing by students on the wrestling team at the Nodaway Valley High School, in Greenfield. Two members of the high school wrestling team were arrested Tuesday on sexual abuse charges. The arrests follow an investigation that began January 4th after a parent of a Nodaway Valley wrestler reported her son was the possible victim on an assault in the high school’s wrestling room in mid December.

Police then learned of two other potential victims, but their investigation was complicated by witnesses who initially refused to come forward and make a statement to investigators. O’Brien says the assaults were “sexual in nature” and were “directly related to some type of punishment toward the victims.”  

Eighteen-year-old Mikel Feick and an unnamed 17-year-old juvenile were charged with second-degree sexual abuse. Both have been removed from the wrestling team, but there’s no word if they’re still students at Nodaway Valley High School. Feick was booked into the Adair County Jail in Greenfield, and later released on $25,000 bond. The 17-year old male was being held in the juvenile detention facility in Eldora, on $25,000 bond.

This is the second known investigation in recent weeks involving inappropriate conduct by members of an Iowa high school wrestling team. Police have submitted simple assault charges against three members of the Lisbon High School wrestling squad in connection with an incident that took place in a locker room. The Linn County Attorney’s office is reviewing that case.