SANTA ANA, Calif. — A Mater Dei High School athletic program that has been under scrutiny for the past six months is the subject of a new police investigation into alleged hazing involving Monarchs athletes.
The Santa Ana Police Department is investigating allegations of assault and hazing with the Mater Dei boys water polo program, the department confirmed Friday.
The police investigation comes against the backdrop of an alleged hazing scandal with the Mater Dei football program that has attracted national attention and raised questions about the culture within one of the country’s most renown high school athletic programs.
Santa Ana Police Department officers have conducted multiple interviews in the case and anticipate submitting the case to the Orange County District Attorney, the police officials said.
Police officials did not elaborate on additional details of the investigation.
Mater Dei principal Frances Clare is aware of the investigation, according to emails obtained by The Orange County Register. At least two players have left the Monarchs water polo program because of alleged hazing, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
Clare has also received emails demanding the removal of Mater Dei water polo head coach Brian Anderson.
Mater Dei did not respond to a request for comment. Anderson, who teaches at Westminster High School, also did not respond to a request for comment.
Mater Dei has been in the national spotlight since November when the Register reported about alleged hazing involving two Monarchs football players.
During an altercation on Feb. 4, 2021, a current Mater Dei football player punched a teammate, 50 pounds lighter than him, three times in the face during an alleged hazing ritual called “Bodies” while some Monarchs players present shouted racial epithets at the smaller player, according to two videos of the altercation obtained by the Register.
The fight left the smaller player with a traumatic brain injury, two gashes over his right eye, one over his left and a broken nose that would require surgery, according to surgeon’s reports and other medical records. The injuries were the results of a series of blows to the head that would prompt a Santa Ana Police Department investigator to recommend the Orange County District Attorney’s juvenile division file felony battery charges against the other player, according to a police report obtained by the Register.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges in the case.
The family of the smaller Mater Dei football smaller player filed suit against the school and the diocese in Orange County Superior Court on Nov. 23.
The suit alleges negligence, negligence per se-hazing in violation of the California penal code, negligent failure to warn, train or educate, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“If I had a hundred dollars for every time these kids played Bodies or Slappies, I’d be a millionaire,” Mater Dei head football coach Bruce Rollinson told the injured player’s father the day after the altercation, according to a court filing.
Then-Mater Dei High School president Father Walter Jenkins on Nov. 30 commissioned an investigation into the safety practices of its athletic programs by an outside law firm in the wake of the alleged hazing in February.
Jenkins also said he would create a task force to review “how athletics is engaged” at the school. Jenkins resigned on Jan. 1 Shortly before his resignation Jenkins confirmed that two videos from 2018 obtained by the Register showing Mater Dei High football players acting out simulated sex acts on other players, alleged hazing and fights in the school’s locker room would be part of the Sacramento law firm’s investigation.
New Mater Dei president Mike Brennan in February characterized the law firm’s job is an “assessment” rather than an investigation.
