Rocklin High football parents deny sexual allegations against son

Two weeks after a Rocklin High school student at a Rocklin Unified High School District board meeting accused a fellow student and football player of circulating a sexual video without her consent, the football player's parents spoke out. The allegations were made at the May 3 Rocklin Unified High School District (RUHSD) board meeting. "In November of 2022, I took part in a sexual act with a fellow sophomore. During this act, I was filmed without my knowledge," the student said. May 4. "He further victimized me by distributing the video to teens throughout the county. I am not the only girl that he has filmed. But I am the only girl who will speak up. I will not be silenced." The girl's mother, father, sister and best friend attended the May 3 board meeting to defend her. Several other community members spoke out in the girl's defense. The parents of the accused football player spoke out about the accusations at the next Rocklin Unified High School District meeting on May 17. "I am the father of the boy in question. I'm the person who an online mob is calling a horrible parent," Marty Munn said. He accused the Rocklin community of "jumping to conclusions" and "publicly shaming" his son without all the facts. He asked the board what happened to "innocent until proven guilty." Munn said he didn't condone what the two students did but alleged that his son and the Rocklin girl who made the accusations made a poor decision. "Did you ever stop to think that it's taking the administration, the police and the district attorney a long time because this is a complex case and they want to have all the facts before making a decision," Munn said. "It probably would have gone faster if she (accuser) would have voluntarily turned over her phone like my son did on day one." Because of the accusations, Munn said, his son is "being harassed by students and adults. He's being called a sexual predator, pedophile and a rapist. He's been bullied online by other quarterbacks because of false accusations." He also denied allegations of there being sexual video footage of the accuser being taken on his son's phone. "There are no videos of them having sex. Nor are there 50 other pictures, as stated in the last meeting," Munn said. Munn ended his address to the board by saying, "I hope the school and the community can repair itself after this unfortunate event that was handled by the public and social media mob based on lies and slander." The boy's mother, Holly Danna, seconded Munn's denial. "Today, our family is speaking for the first time publicly. The egregious lies spewed at the last board meeting blinsighted our family and caused a lynch mob mentality to surface over blatant lies stated as facts by the Messina family," Danna said. Danna talked about a protest that happened May 11 outside of Rocklin High school. Nearly 100 parents, students and community members walked out of school in response to what they said was a lack of disciplinary action against the accused football player. "Children were encouraged to protest over something that was completely false against a minor. Young girls were screaming at cars that our son is a pedophile while adults watched and encouraged and partook," Danna said. "Defamation is against the law in the state of California. Defamation is an act of communicating false statements about a person to injure the reputation of that person. This is illegal." Danna said there are details that the public doesn't know about. "My family is privy to information that is private. We kept silent to protect the girls' reputation, with a lot of grace for both minors," Manna said. "Here are some facts that have been verified through private investigators, police, and fellow students." "My son only took the photo after this girl asked him to, which she posed for. This girl asked him to send her the photo the same day," Danna said. "Immediately after he sent it, she distributed it to multiple people and groups of people. This picture is of my son's privates, not hers. There is no sex video that my son took or has." Some community members also spoke at the May 17 board meeting. Eight community members spoke in defense of the accused football player and nine community members spoke in defense of the accuser. Three of the nine were Rocklin High students who said they too experienced sexual assault and harrassment while in the district from athletes. The alleged incident was reported to Rocklin High school and Rocklin Police on Jan. 25, according to Rocklin Unified School District chief of communications Sundeep S. Dosanjh. "The school immediately began their investigation. The Rocklin Police Department's school resource officer was notified on the same day and began their separate investigation, Dosanhj said on May 11 . Dosanhj added, "Rocklin Unified understands that students, families and staff would like more information. However, matters involving student discipline, investigations and consequences are confidential, in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The school district continues to review board policies and student codes of conduct to identify areas for improvement. This includes further educational efforts focused on cyber-safety and sexting. We will continue to improve our efforts involving mental health supports, digital citizenship and cyber-bullying education for all grade levels." Gold Country Media reached out to the Placer County District Attorney's Office, which said that by law, they are unable to confirm any details pertaining to cases involving minors. "With our juvenile unit, we keep things very private," said Placer County District Attorney's Office public information officer Stephanie Herrera. "Our office is tied to the Welfare and Institutions Code 826, which states that information in cases involving minors remain confidential."