2 high school football players to be arraigned on sex crime charges

Two Vista Murrieta High School football players are expected to be arraigned Tuesday on sex crime charges involving six underage girls.

Both players are 17 and have been removed from the team, Coach Coley Candaele said.

One player is charged with two counts of forcible rape involving two victims, two counts of lewd acts with a girl under 14 and three counts of imprisonment involving three additional victims, according to John Hall, a spokesman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office.

The other 17-year-old is facing “sex-related charges,” Hall said.

They were due to be arraigned in separate juvenile courtrooms.

Murrieta Unified School District spokeswoman Karen Perris told CBS-LA that the alleged crimes did not occur on campus or “in conjunction with any school activities.”

One of the students was a standout on the football team, which was ranked No. 5 by The Times. One parent outside the school told KTLA-TV that the allegations made against him were “absolutely out of character.”

School officials said they notified police as soon as they became aware of the accusations.

CBS aired a statement from a father of one of the alleged victims.

“I will say to have your child attending a school that’s in fear and harassed by others is simply not fair. And we will just wait to see the outcome.”

The network did not release his identity.

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Twitter: @LATsondheimer

Eric.sondheimer@latimes.com