Battery, Hazing Charges Filed Against Maine West Soccer Coach

A former varsity boys soccer coach and teacher at Maine West High School faces multiple criminal charges related to reports of bullying and hazing, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez stated on Wednesday. Michael Divincenzo was charged with eight misdemeanor counts including three counts of battery, one count of hazing and four counts of failure to report abuse as mandated, in incidents on June 1, 2012, Aug. 31, 2012 and Sept. 26, 2012, according to court documents.

Divincenzo is accused of threatening freshmen students to have the varsity players stick their thumbs up their buttocks if they did not communicate properly during a soccer drill, according to the charges. Freshmen team players were held down by varsity players against their will, according to the charges, while other varsity players inserted sticks and fingers into their buttocks.

The charges state Divincenzo was present at the practices when the reported assaults took place and directed varsity players to conduct initiations on the freshmen players, Alvarez’s office stated.

Divincenzo was informed of the assaults immediately after they occurred, according to court documents, but did not notify his superiors at Maine West or cause a report to be filed with the Department of Children and Family Services, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s statement.

“These attacks were purposeful attempts to bully, haze and humiliate the victim players in order to ‘induct’ them into the soccer program at Maine West,” Alvarez stated. “As a teacher and coach, Divincenzo had an affirmative legal obligation to report any incident where a player was subject to harm. This conduct is not only unacceptable, it is illegal.”

Maine Township High School District 207 has maintained it complied fully with its obligation to report the bullying and hazing incidents to DCFS, and released a report from an investigation done within the district that stated the district did not commit any wrongdoing.

In a statement released in response to the announcement of the charges filed against Divincenzo, D-207 stated, in part, “the investigative phase of this process appears to be concluding, as the State’s Attorney’s announcement of charges against Mr. DiVincenzo follows last week’s report by the independent investigator retained by District 207’s Board of Education.”

Antonio Romanucci, an attorney representing four current and former Maine West students in a civil lawsuit related to the reports of bullying and hazing at the Des Plaines high school stated the charges filed against Divincenzo brought “vindication and relief to all those involved that justice is being served and there will be accountability.”

D-207 terminated Divincenzo and another teacher and coach named in the lawsuit, Emilio Rodriguez, but has not made public the reasons for the dismissals.

Divincenzo turned himself into the Des Plaines Police Department on Wednesday, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, posted a cash bond and was released.

Six students who participated in the hazing assaults were named in misdemeanor juvenile petitions, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office stated, and Alvarez stated her office would dismiss those petitions and would not continue with any charges against the juveniles.

Divincenzo was issued a court date of June 3 at Skokie courthouse, according to court documents.