3rd ex-Wheaton football player pleads guilty in hazing case

WHEATON, Ill. – A third former member of a Christian college football team in suburban Chicago who faced felony charges in a 2016 hazing incident has pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

Samuel TeBos of Allendale, Michigan, pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanour battery and was sentenced to one year of conditional discharge and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service. Prosecutors dropped the felony charges the former Wheaton College player faced in exchange for his plea.

The plea deal and sentence are the same as one that co-defendant Noah Spielman agreed to in March and that co-defendant Kyler Kregel agreed to earlier this month.

TeBos’ defence attorney Todd Pugh called the resolution “bittersweet,” saying there was no malicious intent.

TeBos, Spielman, Kregel and two other Wheaton players were arrested last year in connection with a 2016 incident in which they allegedly duct-taped a teammate and dumped him half-naked in a park.