Walker Middle student raped by four teens at school

*Note* the nature of this story is graphic.

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says a student at Walker Middle School was sexually battered last month by four teens with a broom handle and a hockey stick.

Deputies arrested Randall John Moye, 14, Raymond A. Price-Murray, 14, Lee Louis Myers, 14, and Diamante J. Roberts, 15.

"We were investigating what seemed to be a less serious incident of bullying and discovered there was something much more serious," said Steve Hegarty, spokesman for the Hillsborough County School District. "We were not aware of the kind of details that are coming out now when we started sitting down with the kids... that's when law enforcement got involved."

According to reports, the bullying of the 13-year-old victim took place between March 15 and May 5. When school administrators were investigating an incident that took place on Tuesday, they learned about the sexual assault that allegedly took place last week, on April 30.

All four suspects are eighth graders who play on the school's flag football team. The victim is in the seventh grade and identified his attackers on Wednesday.

"We did a parent link," Hegarty said, describing the school's automated phone message-delivery system to parents. "(We told them there) was an incident - we did not go into details for a lot of reasons. We can't do that. So, we notified parents of what's going on."

"Four male students were arrested yesterday for an incident involving another student," Principal Kathleen Hoffman said in her recording, delivered on Thursday. "Currently, those students are not at Walker Middle School and will not return to Walker unless their legal issues are resolved. The details of the situation are confidential, but I want to assure our parents that we are doing all we can to make sure our students are safe."

Many parents told 10 Connects that their kids already knew the details of the crime and they should have been informed too.

"I'm definitely disappointed," said parent Melinda Veloz. "They've sent out a bunch of papers for the swine flu and this is obviously a serious incident that affects every parent in this community."

"That it went on for more than a month is absurd," said Mary Jane Skornschek, also a parent of a Walker Middle School student. "I don't know if they're allowed to treat each other this way in the classroom (or) in the hallways... something's not right."

The 13-year-old victim has since returned to class.