Three Ohio high school students arrested for sexual assault

CINCINNATI, Ohio (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Three teen boys have been arrested after an alleged sexual assault of an autistic child.

The alleged incident happened after a baseball practice on April 28th at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati.

"It's so harmful, so cruel, almost animalistic in a way," said Melissa Powers, Hamilton County Prosecutor.

Powers is not holding back about charges for a sex crime involving junior varsity (JV) athletes.

"As a mother, I was thinking of my own children, my own son. This would be my worst nightmare if something like this happened to my own child, because the harm that's done, most of it's emotional," Powers described.

Taking strongest actions possible

Three Wyoming High School freshmen are accused of holding a special needs teammate, who is autistic, against his will and sexually assaulting him.

It allegedly happened last Friday in the locker room after a JV baseball practice.

"There was one person that was more involved and the leader, so to speak. And they were pulling this boy back into the locker room area. He escaped a couple times, so it was more than once that he was dragged back in. And then there was the sexual assault," Powers said.

Students told a coach what happened, who told the athletic director, who called police.

Wyoming City Schools Superintendent Tim Weber writing in a statement, "I am absolutely horrified by the incident alleged to have taken place in the Wyoming High School locker room...We will take the strongest actions possible to support those in need."

Charges

Two teens are charged with gross sexual imposition, kidnapping and hazing.

The so-called ring leader is charged with rape, kidnapping and hazing.

"It's almost unthinkable that teammates...when you play on a team, you're like a family...that teammates would turn on one person on the team," Powers explained.

All three suspects are 15-years-old.