UPDATE (12:38 p.m. Friday): Woodsboro ISD released a statement Friday afternoon reiterating its disappointment in the incident involving some of its students Halloween weekend. The reported attack, however, didn't occur on school property or at a school-sanctioned event.
"Regardless of the advancement of any criminal case against any Woodsboro ISD student, the District’s position remains unchanged: the alleged conduct was reprehensible. Woodsboro ISD remains committed to ensuring that activities like those alleged to have occurred on Halloween do not take place in our schools, and we are working both on our campuses and in our community to teach our students that racism and violence have no place in Woodsboro, Texas."
ORIGINAL:
Two 17-year-olds were indicted Thursday on charges of engaging in organized criminal activity and tampering with evidence as the result of a reported attack on a Black teen in Woodsboro over Halloween weekend.
Noel Garcia Jr. and Rance Bolcik were indicted in Refugio County, and could face from two to 10 years if found guilty of the charges. Each is being held on $10,000 bond.
Both charges are third-degree felonies, and the indictments also include a hate crime enhancement.
"I’m heartened in so far as this indictment is proof positive that at least the citizens of the grand jury in Refugio County saw the evidence, saw that the evidence was indisputable, saw that what my client said happen did in fact happen, and they are now going to bring to account at least two of those people who were involved in that crime," Matt Manning, the attorney for the alleged victim, said.
The indictment also states that an underage girl participated in the crime, but she was not listed as having been indicted, and Manning said he was unsure whether she had been arrested.
NAACP Corpus Christi chapter president Jeremy L. Coleman said in a release that he has spoken with Woodsboro ISD Superintendent Ronald D. Segers Jr., but any other information will be released during a news conference Friday.
At the time, Segers stated in a Facebook postthat the event had not taken place at a school or school-sponsored activity, but expressed dismay at the alleged attack.
"While we are deeply disappointed that any of our students might find this type of behavior acceptable, the district cannot discipline students for this type of conduct when it occurs off-campus," his release said.
During a previous news conference, Manning described the alleged attack as a "heinous, inexcusable, disgusting tasing of a Black teenager by young men dressed as members of the Klu Klux Klan or KKK."
“For you to dress up as a Klansmen you have a specific intent of terrorizing," he said. "That's not an accident. That's not kids being kids that's not boys being boys, that's not hazing or high school high jinks. High school high jinks are egging somebody's house, not dressing up as a Klansmen and tasing them."
Coleman and the NAACP also referred to the alleged attack as a hate crime during a news conference in early November. The reported victim's identity has not been made public.
As of Thursday afternoon, Manning hadn't gotten his client's reaction to the arrests of his alleged attackers.
“He is good as far as the last time he and I spoke," Manning said. "He’s always in great spirits, and I’m glad to hear that. In terms of his reaction to the arrests, I haven’t had a chance to speak to him. So I’m not sure."
