Warning: This story contains graphic descriptions
Kaufman County sheriff deputies searched a Forney High School soccer player’s locker looking for a marker suspected of being used in some of the alleged sexual assaults, according to court documents obtained by WFAA.
The return for the warrant indicates that deputies did not find the marker during last Thursday’s search.
According to the warrant, investigators conducted the search based on what they had been told by a lawyer representing one of the five players accused of sexual assault. The player told his attorney that another player was in a cellphone video inserting the marker into the anus of a teammate. The player also said the other player kept the marker in his locker.
Investigators also obtained the warrant based on the Feb. 12 forensic interview with one of the players. During the forensic interview, the player said the other player kept the marker in his locker, that he had seen the other player with the marker and that he may have seen him sexually assault another player with it.
It was not clear from the warrant if the player whose locker was searched has been arrested in connection with the investigation.
Last Thursday, investigators also searched the offices of head boys soccer coach Kris Duplissey, athletic coordinator Kevin Rush, assistant principal Tim Cook, and principal Steve Whiffen. They were seeking information involving investigations of “reports of misconduct” involving the soccer team.
According to the search warrant returns, investigators seized computers and laptops from the four men. They also seized two journals from Whiffen’s office. From Cook’s office, they confiscated the 2016 coaching evaluation, flash drives, note pads, paper from the shredder and other items. Investigators seized a bus seating chart, notes and notebook paper from a Jan. 24 meeting and a yellow legal pad with handwritten notes from Duplissey’s office.
In a six-page search warrant affidavit WFAA obtained last week, investigators revealed that the head coach of the Forney High School boys soccer team knew about allegations of sexual assault involving players before they were reported to the authorities. The affidavit stated that an allegation of sexual assault had been reported to Duplissey weeks before authorities were notified.
According to the affidavit, a parent of a student wrote an email to Duplissey in December detailing “acts involving sexual assaults and threats made by Forney High School players against other Forney High School players.”
Duplissey replied that the concerns would be addressed, the affidavit says.
The sheriff’s department was not notified of the allegations until Jan. 17 when the district’s human resources director contacted a school resource officer.
By law, school officials are required to report allegations of sexual assault to law enforcement within 48 hours. Not doing so can be a criminal act.
The affidavit also indicates that sheriff’s office investigators believe high school administrators may have interfered with their investigation by “unilaterally” continuing to investigate during the criminal investigation, according to the affidavit. In particular, the warrant states that Whiffen, the principal, talked to an alleged victim after the sheriff’s office began investigating.
It also states that Rush, the athletic coordinator, gave Whiffen a flagpole crank that may have been used in one or more of the alleged sexual assaults. Whifften then notified the authorities that he had put it in a safe in the front office.
Late last month, five members of the soccer team were arrested on charges of sexual assault. Four of the players are minors and a fifth is 18-year-old Jacob Fisher. The four minors had been held by a Kaufman County judge, pending home evaluations, safety plans, and a psychological evaluation. They have since been released.
Fisher has also been released on bond from the Kaufman County jail. Investigators initially identified two victims, but have since identified additional victims.
