4 coaches, 6 students charged in Cheltenham High School hazing scandal

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Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele on Wednesday announced charges against four former Cheltenham High School football coaches and six student players in connection with a pair of alleged locker room hazing incidents in 2025.

The indictments stem from a six-month-long grand jury investigation, during which jurors reviewed video evidence and heard testimony from the subjects involved.

“The assaults on this victim were not the typical goofing around by teammates or horseplay as some of the coaches in this case called it,” Steele said Wednesday at a press conference. “They were crimes.”

Prosecutors are charging head coach Terance Tolbert, associate head coach Darian “DJ” McFadden, assistant coach Benjamin Johnson III and volunteer coach Ralph Burnley with child endangerment and conspiracy.

Two 18-year-old football players — Isaiah Simpson and Josiah Peeler — are charged as adults. Simpson is charged with assault and conspiracy, among other charges. Peeler is charged with false swearing. The other four students, who were under the age of 18 at the time of the incident, are charged as juveniles.

“Our job is to follow the evidence where it leads, to whoever it leads, and prosecute the individuals that have committed crimes,” Steele said. “That’s what we’re doing.”

In a letter to the Cheltenham community, Superintendent Brian Scriven said the district’s thoughts remain with the victim and his family.

“No student should ever experience violence or fear in a school-related setting,” Scriven wrote. “While no legal outcome can erase the harm that was experienced, we appreciate that after nearly a year, charges have been announced and those responsible are being held accountable through the criminal justice system.”

Grand jury uncovers not 1, but 2 incidents

In September 2025, Cheltenham High School officials received information that a 15-year-old football player was assaulted in the team’s locker room earlier that month. Cheltenham School District reported the incident to ChildLine and the Cheltenham Township Police Department after an anonymous tip was made to Safe2Say.

Initially, the school opted to temporarily suspend the program. However, Cheltenham later decided to cancel the football season altogether.

“We do not condone or tolerate hazing or abuse of any kind in our sports programs or in our schools,” Scriven wrote in a letter to families at the time. “It is our duty and obligation to protect and prioritize student safety and well being, even when we know that our decisions may come with consequences and disappointment.”

Although law enforcement quickly began its investigation, Steele told members of the press that officials were “stymied” from completing their probe through traditional means.

“There has been reluctance by most parties, adults and juveniles, to tell what they knew, what they saw, what they heard that day in the locker room and afterwards in the next several weeks,” he said.

In December 2025, prosecutors referred the matter to a grand jury.

Through that process, evidence revealed not one but two instances of hazing: the previously known Sept. 3 incident and an Aug. 15 incident that was captured on video.

“On both occasions, multiple football players were in the locker room following preseason practice,” Steele said. “They were getting changed out of their gear. There were no coaches or adults in the locker room at either time.”

Steele said the first incident on Aug. 15 was recorded by two juvenile football players, who shared the videos with multiple players and other students but later deleted them.

“What it showed is several football players, including alleged delinquent juvenile 2, in the locker room restraining the juvenile victim while their teammate, alleged juvenile delinquent 1, used a broomstick to poke at the victim’s legs and buttocks,” Steele said.

The investigation did not uncover video of the Sept. 3 incident.

“This incident was reportedly prompted by the team having to run extra conditioning drills assigned by the coaches after it was discovered that the victim took some equipment from another player’s locker,” Steele said. “Testimony before the grand jury from multiple witnesses described that incident as involving multiple players, including, and I’ll name this individual, Isaiah Simpson, and other unidentified players.”

Statements revealed that the players allegedly kicked or stomped on the juvenile victim and also assaulted him with a broomstick.

According to the findings of fact in the grand jury report and presentment, the victim suffered a contusion to his genitals.

Coach alleged to cover-up incident: ‘This has to be handled and kept quiet’

Following the second incident on Sept. 3, Steele said the victim “broke down” while being given a ride home from Burnley.

“The victim told Burnley that he had been jumped by his teammates in the locker room and had an injury to his genital area,” Steele said. “Cellphone evidence shows that Burnley immediately texted the coaches in the group chat from the car and made a call to the head coach, Coach Tolbert.”

Burnley, Johnson, McFadden and Tolbert also exchanged text messages.

“They wanted to cover this up,” Steele said. “In a Sept. 3 text message conversation, Burnley said what I think we can refer to as the quiet part out loud, ‘This has to be handled and kept quiet. It’s just like hazing. I’m telling you if this gets out, they could put the whole team in jeopardy.’”

According to the grand jury report, McFadden, too, expressed fears that the whole season might be canceled. The coaching staff then held a group call with the victim.

“The victim testified that Mcfadden and Tolbert told him not to tell his mother about the incident because they would handle it,” Steele said.

The aftermath

The boy’s mother only learned of the incident Sept. 7 and took her son to an urgent care clinic Sept. 8. According to the grand jury report, his mother told a school employee about the second assault on Sept. 7. Internally, school employees began sharing text messages about what had happened.

“It would appear from these messages that the administration was trying to avoid meeting with the Juvenile Victim’s mother,” the grand jury report states.

Additionally, the employees allegedly vouched for Tolbert’s credibility, the report says. One of those same employees led the school’s investigation into the incident despite having no experience or training to do so.

“Employee #2 stated that Tolbert ‘did not know anything,’” the report states. “Employee #2 also spoke to the coaches but took them at their word because he ‘thought that they would be forthcoming, mature adults and do the right thing and not lie to [him].’ Employee #2 did not take notes of his conversations with any of the coaches.”

The grand jury slammed the district’s investigations.

“The administration carried out three school-led investigations that were so flawed they failed to even identify that two separate incidents of hazing occurred in the locker room,” the report states.

A Title IX investigation is still ongoing.

“The Juvenile Victim was failed by his teammates, coaches, and the Cheltenham High School Administration,” the report concluded. “The assault and ridicule he endured shattered the basic trust that should bind teammates. The coaches, who were supposed to protect him, disregarded his welfare to save the team.”

Steele said the victim has had a “rough go.” In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, the victim’s mother said her son was “scared to come forward.”

In addition to recommending charges, the grand jury is calling for the state legislature to change the law to recognize hazing as a form of “child abuse” that must be reported to the state.

Cheltenham’s upcoming football season has also been canceled.