Posted on October 28, 2010

Cheerleader Kicked Off Squad for Refusing to Cheer for Her Attacker

Jessica Wakeman, The Frisky, October 25, 2010

A Texas high school has taken “school spirit” to the extreme and kicked a cheerleader off the squad after she refused to cheer for a football player who sexually assaulted her. According to Ms. magazine, player Rakheem Jamal Bolton, 19, of Silsbee High School in Hardin County, TX, and two other males were accused of sexually assaulting a female student (identified only as H.S.) in 2008 at a post-game party. H.S. claims the three young men forced her into a room, locked the door, held her down and sexually assaulted her. Other party-goers tried to get in the room and two of the three men, including Bolton, fled through the window. . . .

H.S. took Bolton and the other two young men to court in September 2010, where he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault. Bolton was sentenced to a year in prison, but the sentence was suspended and he’ll stay out of jail as long as he does not violate the terms of probation. {snip} Bolton told the local news station about H.S.’s accusations, “I feel like it was just a misunderstanding.”

Now Bolton is back at Silsbee High School, playing on the basketball team, and H.S. is still a cheerleader. When it came time for the cheerleading squad to cheer the players by name during their free throws, H.S. refused to cheer for “Rakheem.” Refusal to cheer got her kicked off the team. Her parents sued the school, {snip} but a court tossed the case out, reasoning: “{snip} [Not cheering for Bolton] constituted substantial interference with the work of the school because, as a cheerleader, [she] was at the basketball game for the purpose of cheering, a position she undertook voluntarily.”

In other words, if the school tells her she has to cheer for her attacker, she has to cheer for her attacker.

{snip} But the real question is: If Rakheem Bolton was accused of rape and pleaded guilty to assault, why is he allowed to play for Silsbee High School sports teams at all? America really does let its sports stars do anything, doesn’t it?

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Silsbee Football Players Free on Bond in Cheerleader Rape Case

Amy Collins and Blair Ortmann, Beaumont Enterprise, October 21, 2008

Two of three Silsbee High School football players charged in the rape of a cheerleader were free today on bond, a Hardin County jail official said.

Three Silsbee High School football players were arrested Monday after a cheerleader told police she was raped at a party following the Tigers’ game Friday night, Silsbee Police Chief Dennis Allen said.

Christian Paul Roundtree, 18, Rakeem Bolton, 17, and a 16-year-old male, whose name was not released because he is a minor, were charged with sexually assaulting a child, Allen said. None of the teens has a criminal record, he said.

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Police were called about 1:20 a.m. Saturday to a house in the Pruitt Addition in the northwest section of Silsbee, Allen said.

A 16-year-old told police that she was sexually assaulted and described three to four attackers. Police were investigating whether alcohol was present at the party, he said.

The girl was taken to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital, where doctors administered a rape kit, Allen said. The kit will be sent to Texas Department of Public Safety, with results taking up to four months.

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A fourth male was a suspect but now is serving as a witness, Allen said.

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Silsbee High School’s football roster lists the two named players as Christopher Rountree, a running back and defensive back, and Rakheem Bolton, a wide receiver and defensive back.

The incident occurred after the Silsbee Tigers won their first District 21-3A game, beating Bridge City 21-0. {snip}

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