Five adults, now including the superintendent of Steubenville City Schools, are now facing charges in the alleged cover-up of a rape at a high-school end-of-summer party last year.
Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine announced the indictments at a press conferenc. They range from felony obstruction of justice charges against Superintendent Mike McVey to misdemeanor failure to report child abuse against an elementary school principal.
DeWine says the issues that surfaced in Steubenville spread well beyond the Ohio River town.
“We have in this country a societal problem. This began as the rape of a 16-year-old girl, a horrible crime of violence. But it also represents blurred, stretched and distorted boundaries of right and wrong. While this started out about the kids, it is also just as much about the parents, about the grown ups.”
The two high school football players charged with raping the 16-year-old girl were convicted in juvenile court. Beyond McVey, the adults charged include the district’s IT director, a volunteer football coach, a wrestling coach and the principal.