Dependable Health Services Physical Therapists Health Care CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Administrative & Professional Jorgensen Brooks Group Counselor Health Care Sierra Tucson Eating Disorders Program Coordinator Mechanical Komatsu Equipment Co Resident Field Mechanic Administrative & Professional Tucson Urban League CEO/President Sales and Marketing Everready Glass Sales Reps Tucson RegionCounselors accused of assault could get probationArizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.02.2006
Records confirm that two counselors accused of assaulting 17 boys at a camp in Prescott last summer have been offered a plea agreement that could keep them out of prison.
The move has dismayed the family of at least one of the boys, a Tucson 12-year-old. Another boy also was from Tucson.
According to Yavapai County Superior Court records, Clifton Roy Bennett, the 18-year-old son of Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett, was offered a deal Tuesday by the Yavapai County Attorney's Office to plead guilty to one count of aggravated assault, with probation as a possible sentence.
He originally was charged with 18 counts of aggravated assault involving incidents of reported "brooming."
The exact definition of "brooming" or "broomsticking" varied, according to witness statements compiled by Prescott police, from touching brooms to the boys' rectal areas to one description of how a boy was held down and had a broomstick "shoved" into his bottom.
The other counselor, Kyle Wheeler, 19, was offered a plea deal for two counts of aggravated assault, also with probation available. He faced 21 felony charges, among them accusations he choked campers. He was accused of "brooming," too.
Wheeler and Bennett told police they were roughhousing and hazing the youngsters.
The boys had been at a camp for student leaders. Tucson attorney Lynne M. Cadigan, who is acting as an advocate for one of the families, says the boy she's representing suffered physical and emotional trauma.
● Contact Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or sinnes@azstarnet.com.
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