Staff Reports
Two Wilson coaches and three former baseball players are scheduled for court appearances today in Wilson Town Court in connection with an alleged hazing incident on a Wilson school bus.
Coaches Thomas Baia, 40, a middle school math teacher, and William Atlas, 35, an elementary school physical education teacher, are each charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
The charges followed an alleged hazing incident on a bus ride home from Niagara Falls in April.
The three Wilson students accused in the alleged hazing are facing reduced charges and are also due tonight in court.
Colton J. Sherman and Christopher A. Sidote, both 16, and 18-year-old Geoffrey A. Seefeldt, had the charges against them reduced during their last court appearance in September.
Each teen had originally been charged with various counts of aggravated sexual assault, a felony.
Seefeldt is now charged with three counts of third-degree forcible touching, a misdemeanor.
Sherman and Sidote each now face one count of forcible touching.
In addition to the new lesser charges, the state police have now charged each teen with various counts of hazing. Seefeldt is facing three counts each of first-degree hazing, a misdemeanor, and second-degree hazing, a violation.
Sidote faces one count each of first- and second-degree hazing, while Sherman is facing two counts of each.
Sherman, Sidote and Seefeldt, all former varsity baseball players, are accused of assaulting at least two junior varsity baseball players during an April 17 bus trip back to Wilson from Niagara Falls.
They were arrested after an investigation by the New York State Police.
