July 29, 2026
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Investigators said 10 people, including four coaches, have been charged in connection with two hazing incidents involving the Cheltenham High School football team.
Following a grand jury investigation, four coaches and six players have been charged in connection with football hazing allegations at Cheltenham High School from last year, officials said Wednesday.
The charges range from assault and unlawful restraint to perjury and tampering with evidence, the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office said. The two incidents, one in August and one in September, resulted in the school canceling its football seasons for 2025 and 2026.
District Attorney Kevin Steele said investigators initially believed the hazing was isolated to the Sept. 3 incident that the 15-year-old sophomore reported to coaches, but recordings of an additional assault on Aug. 15 was later discovered during the investigation. The videos, recorded by two of the students who have been charged, were deleted but eventually recovered by detectives.
In the footage, multiple players restrain their teammate and use a broomstick to poke at his legs and butt, Steele said. Other players were heard laughing and yelling and at least one person chanted "broomstick him," according to investigators.
The Sept. 3 incident occurred after the team had to run additional drills because the 15-year-old took equipment from another player's locker, Steele said. The student said he was punched, kicked and stepped on in the head and groin with cleats, causing him to curl up to protect himself. He said he was again poked with a broomstick.
"The assaults on this victim were not the typical goofing around by teammates or horseplay as some of the coaches in this case called it, they were crimes," Steele said. "Numerous witnesses, many reluctant to share what they saw and knew, testified before the grand jury 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."
Two of the players, Isaiah Simpson and Josiah Peeler, are 18 and are being charged as adults. Simpson has been charged with conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and unlawful restraint. Peeler has been charged with lying to law enforcement. Two other juveniles, who have not been named, are charged with aggravated assault, hazing and unlawful restraint, and two additional players have been charged with conspiracy to commit hazing, perjury and tampering with evidence.
Following the Sep. 3 incident, the student got a ride home from volunteer coach Ralph Burnley and told him about about the assault. Investigators said Burnley immediately texted assistant coaches Darian McFadden and Benjamin Johnson and called head coach Terence Tolbert from the car. The coaches told the student not to tell his mother about the incident. They did not immediately inform school administrators.
The student's mother learned about the assault on Sep. 7 and took her son to urgent care the following day, where he was diagnosed with a contusion to his penis. Steele said the first call to ChildLine, the state's hotline for child abuse, was made on Sep. 18. On Oct. 19, school administrators canceled the season.
Burnley, McFadden, Johnson and Tolbert have each been charged with two counts of endangering child welfare and two counts of conspiracies to commit endangering the welfare of children.
According to Steele, Burnley texted on Sept. 3, "This has to be handled and kept quiet. It's just like hazing. I'm telling you, if this gets out, they could put the whole team in jeopardy." Another coach responded saying, "If this gets out, we are f---ed" and expressed concerns about the season getting canceled.
"These coaches knew what was going on in the beginning, they said it and they went a different way," Steele said. "Part of the problem here is that this was mishandled on a lot different levels."
In December 2025, investigators moved the case into a grand jury investigation to compel testimony under oath, Steele said. Cheltenham High School also conducted an additional external investigation, which confirmed a student-on-student assault took place in the locker room on Sep. 3 and that 19 students witnessed it but did nothing.
The grand jury report, which is the second in this case, also calls for additional state legislation regarding hazing. Jurors suggested mandating that hazing be reported by teachers, coaches, school administrators and medical professionals who either witness or are told about an incident. Currently, hazing is not required to be reported when it is committed by a peer, Steele said.
