COLLIERVILLE, Tenn., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Three Collierville, Tenn., teenagers must perform community service for participating in illegal organized bare-knuckle fights, a judge said.
Juvenile Court Magistrate Herbert Lane Friday remanded the 16-year-olds into the custody of the state Youth Services Bureau, which oversees home confinement, and ordered the youths to do community service work, The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal reported Saturday.
The case will be erased from their records if the teenagers remain out of trouble for a year, Lane said.
The boys were found to have violated a state law banning illegal prize fighting, sparring and other brutal sports. They were among as many as two dozen other teenagers who allegedly participated in an informal "fight club" last summer, police said.
Collierville High School students organized the off-campus fights, though defense lawyers, the students and parents denied a fight club existed.
"It looks to me that is what we've got here," Lane said, referring to fight clubs. "The court has to take aggressive action to stop all this."
