Wheaton College players charged in hazing go free on bail

The last two of five Wheaton College football players accused in a teammate's hazing 18 months ago turned themselves in to police on Friday.

The athletes are charged with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint. They are accused of abducting the teammate from his dorm room, tying him up with duct tape and leaving him in a baseball field near Hawthorne Elementary School in Wheaton in March 2016.

The players - Noah Spielman, James Cooksey, Kyler Kregel, Benjamin Pettway, and Samuel TeBos - were issued bond of $50,000 by a DuPage County judge on Monday.

TeBos and Cooksey turned themselves in on Friday. Spielman, Kregel and Pettway reported to the Wheaton police station earlier in the week.

All five have now posted the required $5,000 bail.

Cooksey was the last of the five players to show up at the police station. He entered the building Friday afternoon with his attorney, Michael Fleming. The Elmhurst attorney later declined comment.

Terry Ekl, the attorney for the victim, says his client was left with two injured shoulders, which required three surgeries. During the car ride to the ballfield, Ekl said, the student, who was a freshman, was threatened with sexual violations.

After the hazing, the student left Wheaton College and now attends another school. The school suspended the players after the charges were announced.

A second football player was hazed the same evening and also left in the school ballfield. He remains on the team, according to a recent roster.

"The investigation has revealed that the first victim suffered injuries and had a much different experience than the second player involved," Wheaton police Sgt. P.J. Youker said Tuesday.

None of the players are from the Chicago area. Cooksey is from Jacksonville, Florida; Kregel, Grand Rapids, Michigan; Pettway, Lookout Mountain, Georgia; Spielman, Columbus, Ohio; and TeBos, Allendale, Michigan.