Illinois high school, police probe hazing

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CHICAGO, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Police have entered an investigation into allegations of hazing involving the Hoffman Estates (Ill.) High School boys' basketball team, school officials said.

The Township High School District 211 school board said in a release it was working with Hoffman Estates police in the probe of hazing allegations that became public Friday.

The Chicago Sun-Times said the team would forfeit three games as a result of the alleged hazing. Details of the nature of the alleged hazing were not revealed.

The Chicago Tribune said Sunday a similar scandal was being investigated in nearby Maine Township High School District 207, where four student athletes recently filed suit claiming players on the Maine West High School baseball and boys' soccer teams were assaulted in initiations that qualified as hazing.

The suit -- which also name Principal Audrey Haugan and Maine Township Schools Superintendent Ken Wallace as defendants -- claims soccer Coach Michael Divincenzo congratulated a player for having been held down and sodomized by seniors on the team.

Divincenzo has not been charged with any crimes but the district has reassigned him and another coach and temporarily barred them from coaching.