3 charged with rape in Milton sex case

Statutory rape charges were filed yesterday against three former Milton Academy ice hockey players who allegedly requested and received oral sex from a 15-year-old sophomore girl in a boys' locker room.

Two juvenile players already are charged in the alleged incident, which prosecutors said occurred in January on the campus of the prestigious preparatory school. It is illegal under state law to have sex with anyone under 16 years old.

The players charged yesterday -- 17-year-old Alex Casiano from Pembroke Pines, Fla., 17-year-old Jay Driscoll from Milton, and 18-year-old Pasko Skarica from Bethpage, N.Y. -- are scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Quincy District Court. If convicted, at the minimum they would have to register as sex offenders; at the maximum, they would be sentenced to life in prison, according to Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating's office, which filed the charges.

Prosecuting young people under statutory rape laws is uncommon in cases of uncoerced sex when they are close in age to the alleged victim, according to several juvenile law specialists. But the specifics of the case to be brought by prosecutors remained unknown. A spokesman for the district attorney refused to elaborate on the charges.

Parents of the accused and their lawyer, Jack Diamond of Quincy, did not return calls yesterday seeking comment.

The alleged incident at Milton Academy has made national headlines, provoked discussion among families about sexual behavior among teenagers, and prompted many parents to address the issue of oral sex, which many teenagers might consider safe and not really sex.

Even though the charges had been expected since the two 16-year-old players were charged as juveniles in late April, news of the criminal proceedings angered some academy students. A parent of another Milton student said the accused are victims of a culture obsessed with sex that leaves them uncertain where the lines of propriety lie.

Milton Academy officials expelled all five hockey players and notified police in February about the alleged locker room incident Jan. 24. The school later said that two other oral sex sessions involving some of the same students had occurred on the same weekend. On Jan. 22, two of the hockey players and a 15-year-old male student received oral sex from the girl in a dorm room, and on Jan. 23, the same group engaged in the same activity in a boys locker room, school officials contend.

The district attorney filed charges in only the third alleged incident, during which the girl is said to have performed oral sex on the two hockey players and three of their teammates between dining and study halls.

The alleged dorm room incident was more casual and involved fewer people, according to one person who has spoken with the students involved and another briefed on the investigation. Some of the students involved said they were playing a sex game, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Parents of the girl, who returned to class in April, did not return calls for comment yesterday. It is Globe policy not to name victims of alleged sexual abuse without their consent.

Some academy students said yesterday that they were outraged by the criminal charges. Skarica and Driscoll, in particular, were popular students known for their sense of humor and for pulling crazy stunts, they said, but charging them criminally was out of line.

''That's so stupid," said one senior who spoke on the condition of anonymity because students were told not to speak to the press. ''I don't understand why this is happening to them."

Another senior said he, too, thought the alleged incident was not a ''big deal."

''I think this is something that's typical of high school," he said. ''We just don't know about it."

The campus was quiet yesterday afternoon, as some students played Frisbee on the academy common. School officials issued a statement, saying that whatever happened to the teenagers after their expulsion is out of their hands. ''As we have said before, the district attorney's decisions are not ours to make, and we have not been involved in his deliberations," spokeswoman Cathy Everett said.

One parent said he blames society's obsession with sex.

Virgil Aiello, whose daughter is a freshman at the academy, said teenagers these days have a hard time sorting out what's right and wrong in sexual behavior.

''I think its difficult for them to realize their own individual responsibility for these acts when they're inundated daily -- barraged, if you will -- by sexually explicit material from many different angles, particularly, items that are broadcast over the Internet," Aiello said.

''It's up to each and every parent as well as the schools to deal with these things as best they can."

Maria Cramer of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.