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Two former Mountain Ridge wrestlers indicted for sexual assault on wrestling trip

Posted at 2:56 PM, May 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-20 18:02:00-04

A grand jury in Navajo County has indicted two former Mountain Ridge High School wrestlers on sex crimes in connection with a team trip late last year.

Logan Clark and Dayton Jensen are charged with sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a minor for attacking a teammate in the team's hotel room while in Holbrook for a meet.

Previous documents obtained by ABC15 indicate the victim said he was pinned in a wrestling move by a teammate while a second used a toothbrush to penetrate the victim. A third allegedly recorded the incident on his phone.

The victim's grandmother (whose name we are not releasing to protect the identity of her grandson) said he was just 14 years old when the two boys sodomized him. 

"They thought it was a joke," she said. "They thought it was funny. It's not funny. It's very serious."

The charges are something the grandmother has been fighting for but worried nothing would come of it.

"For months and months I hadn't heard anything," she explained. "And then it wasn't until the media came in and made something out of it that somebody decided to do something."

She also said her grandson is still grappling with the alleged assault and is far from OK. Kids still mock him for what occurred and call him "toothbrush" and throw toothbrushes at him.

"Well he's scared," she said. "He was scared to go to a party tonight. He's kind of emotionally numb. He's not sure how to feel about it."

A spokesperson for the Deer Valley Unified School District confirmed that the two former students faced disciplinary actions per school district policy.

"The school continues to provide support for the victim, as well as ongoing character education and review of guidelines for expected behavior of student-athletes," the district spokesperson said.

After alleged sexual assault allegations came to light in December, school administrators took immediate action to investigate the incident including speaking with parents and members of the wrestling team, district officials said. 

Since the alleged sexual assault occurred, no additional incidents have been reported, officials confirmed. 

Both charges against Clark and Jensen are class 2 felonies. They're expected in court on June 5.