CHELTENHAM, Pa. — Ten people are facing criminal charges tied to an alleged hazing incident involving a Pennsylvania high school football team, after authorities say a student was assaulted inside a locker room.
The Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that a grand jury has indicted four football coaches and six players. The players charged include two 18-year-olds and four juveniles.
The coaches named in the case are former head football coach Terence Tolbert, 55, of Elkins Park; associate head coach Darian “DJ” McFadden, 42, of Roslyn; assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III, 45, of Cheltenham; and volunteer coach Ralph Burnley, 60, of Elkins Park.
Authorities identified the two 18-year-old players charged as Isaiah Simpson and Josiah Peeler.
Investigators said the case began after a 15-year-old sophomore football player reported to Burnley that teammates had “jumped” him in the locker room in September 2025.
The charges were filed after authorities completed what they described as an extensive investigation into the allegations.
Officials initially treated the report as a single incident. However, investigators later determined there were two separate alleged episodes: one on August 15, 2025, and another on September 3, 2025, which prompted the original report.
As the investigation unfolded, authorities said they learned that videos of at least one of the alleged incidents had been circulated.
In the video, the victim is seen being held down while being poked with a broomstick as other teammates watched.
Investigators said that “approximately 19 students who witnessed the assault made no attempt to stop the event.”
At least one person can be heard chanting, “broomstick him,” officials say.
The victim said the assault only stopped because the players had to get on a bus.
No coaches were in the locker room at the time of the assault, according to investigators.
After the victim told Burnley of the incident, officials allege that McFadden and Tolbert instructed the victim to not tell his mother because “they would handle it” and did not report it to school administration at that time.
The victim’s mother learned about the assault from a friend four days later and took him to a doctor for his injuries to his genitals.
The school district says they didn’t learn about the incident until a week later, prompting district officials to end the 2025 football season early, as well as launch an external investigation.
A report about the investigation found insufficient supervision of locker rooms by coaches and a failure to prioritize student safety, prompting an overhaul of the football program.
The decision came just two hours before the team was scheduled to play its senior night game, sparking strong feelings from the community.
“These assaults on a football player were not the typical goofing around by teammates. These were crimes,” DA Steele said. “Numerous witnesses, many reluctant to share what they saw and knew, testified about what occurred in the Cheltenham High School locker room on these two occasions and testified about actions taken by some of the football coaches after the assaults. After carefully considering all of the testimony and evidence, including reviewing the recovered videos of one of the assaults, the Grand Jury recommended charges against the four juveniles, two other football players and four coaches.”
The coaches are being charged with endangering the welfare of children, conspiracy to commit endangering the welfare of children.
Simpson, who was also allegedly a participant in the assault, is facing conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, and false imprisonment.
Peeler is accused of lying to law enforcement about the incident.
The juvenile teens are facing hazing, perjury and tampering with evidence charges.
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