LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. – Three New Hope High School football players have been arrested on statutory rape charges.
Javonte Ellis, 17, Brenton Spann, 18, and Tyler Staples, 18, are accused of having sexual contact with two girls, ages 14 and 15. The age of consent in Mississippi is 16-years-old.
Investigators said all five persons involved know each other and at last one of the girls is a student at New Hope. However, it was not immediately known how many times the alleged incident happened or where.
Ellis, Spann and Staples have been charged as adults; and have bonded out of the Lowndes County jail. The case remains under investigation.
