CHICAGO_The final of five Wheaton College football players facing criminal charges in a 2016 hazing incident turned himself in Friday to police.
James Cooksey, 22, of Jacksonville, Fla., appeared at the Wheaton police station before 2 p.m. Friday. The other four players posted the required $5,000 bail _ 10 percent of their bonds _ and were released pending their arraignments next month.
Cooksey, along with teammates Kyler Kregel, Benjamin Pettway, Noah Spielman and Samuel TeBos, were charged this week with aggravated battery, mob action and unlawful restraint after being accused of a hazing incident in which authorities said a freshman teammate was restrained with duct tape, beaten and left half-naked with two torn shoulders on a baseball field.
The five players were suspended from the team's games and practices following this week's charges.
Sources told The Chicago Tribune that several players on the team were required to perform 50 hours of community service and write an eight-page essay reflecting on their behavior after a separate, independent college investigation.
Police said the players were cooperative throughout the 18-month investigation. None has a criminal history. The college called the hazing incident "unacceptable" and contrary to the school's religious values.
The Thunder, a Division III program ranked fourth in the nation, are scheduled to play at Elmhurst College on Saturday. Three of the five accused athletes played in last week's victory over Carthage College.
Kregel, 21, of Grand Rapids, Mich.; Pettway, 21, from Lookout Mountain, Ga.; Spielman, 21, of Columbus, Ohio; and TeBos, 22, of Allendale, Mich., turned themselves in to the Wheaton Police Department earlier this week.
Spielman is the son of former NFL All-Pro linebacker Chris Spielman, who works as a football analyst for Fox Sports.
