OCOEE, Fla.,None — Newly-released documents in a sex scandal involving Ocoee High school students show that at least six boys, over the age of 16, are facing charges for having consensual sex with a 14-year-old classmate at different times off campus in July.
WFTV learned on Tuesday that the students waived their rights and agreed to answer questions asked by Ocoee police, without their parents present.
Reporter Kathi Belich spoke with the lawyer for two of the teen boys. The lawyer accused the school of violating district policy.
The six Ocoee students signed documents, waiving their right to remain silent.
But a lawyer for two of them said the piece of paper shows their parents should have been notified by the principal first.
Questions are being raised over whether the alleged admissions by six Ocoee High School students that had sex with a 14-year-old girl will hold up in court, even though they signed the documents.
The documents show the six students knew they could remain silent, they knew what they said could be used against them in court and they knew they had a right to an attorney.
Ocoee police did not call their parents first, because police said they did not have to.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said he agrees.
"The police do not have to get the parents' permission in order to interrogate a child regardless of the child's age," said Sheaffer.
But defense attorney Esther Whitehead, who has been hired by two of the students, said if her clients are formally charged, she will challenge the waivers they signed.
"I'm going to fight this with everything," said Whitehead.
Whitehead said the Ocoee High School principal had an obligation to notify the students' parents, according to district policy.
Prosecutors said they are considering whether to formally charge the six students.
Ocoee police said the investigation is far from over and told WFTV that the arrests were age-motivated after accusations that it was racially-motivated.
WFTV
