SOMERSET, Pa. — Three leaders of a Pittsburgh-area youth football association have been charged with endangering the welfare of children, according to Somerset County District Attorney Lisa Lazzari-Strasiser.

Loren Ford, the executive director of the Steel Valley Midget Football Association; Aaron Knight, the director of the association; and Michael Todd, the director of the association’s Camp Ruffhouse, have each been charged with endangering the welfare of children, a third-degree felony.

The charges stem from allegations that older football players at Camp Ruffhouse, a week-long overnight summer football camp in Somerset County for children ages 11 to 14, routinely physically assaulted younger players – and that campers who reported the assaults to coaches were singled out for more abuse.

The camp’s 13- and 14-year-old attendees, nicknamed “Midgets,” allegedly targeted the 11- and 12-year-old “Mighty Mites” for harassment at the camp, which was held this year from July 7-12 at Laurel Hill State Park in Somerset County.

A parent of an 11-year-old camper allegedly told authorities that camp staffers were told about the chronic abuse but that the problems weren’t addressed. In fact, campers who spoke up were allegedly retaliated against, Lazzari-Strasiser said.

Jeremy Peck, a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ranger, wrote in an affidavit of probable cause that a Mighty Mite’s mother told him “that when the Mighty Mites told all the coaches about the abuse, they were punished. The coaches called them ‘snitches,’ made them run laps and put them in the middle of hitting drills.”

“Mighty Mites stopped telling coaches about abuse after that,” Peck added.

Peck wrote in the affidavit that younger campers were allegedly slapped, punched, grabbed by the hair and hit in the genitals, adding that “if one player in particular would show signs of weakness … they would be focused on.” This abuse went well beyond what could be described as routine hazing, Lazzari-Strasiser said.

“The tipping point for us in this investigation,” Lazzari-Strasiser said, “was the allegations that, during the use of bathroom facilities, including showers, that … children were exposed to inappropriate touching of their private parts, indecent exposure on behalf of other campers, and physical assault. That’s a complete invasion of privacy.”

One 11-year-old arrived home from camp with a black eye and a swollen lip, Peck wrote.

Another Mighty Mite ran away from the camp on July 11, intending to walk back to his home in Homestead, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Lazzari-Strasiser said. Shortly afterward, a park ranger allegedly found that boy being assaulted by two other campers in the middle of nearby Copper Kettle Highway.

The boy allegedly told the park ranger that he was trying to leave the camp because of “improper treatment from coaches and verbal and physical abuse from fellow players,” Peck wrote. When Knight arrived at the scene and ordered the boy into his vehicle, the boy allegedly became “distraught.”

Camp officials have refused to provide investigators with a roster of camp participants and staff, Lazzari-Strasiser said.

“We hope that, with the complaint being filed, that we will have more people come forward,” she said.

Any victims of or witnesses to abuse at Camp Ruffhouse are asked to contact Peck at Laurel Hill State Park by calling 814-445-7725.

Todd, 60, of Homestead, and Knight, 46, of McKeesport, Allegheny County, were arraigned Wednesday morning before District Judge Sandra Stevanus of Rockwood and released on $75,000 unsecured bail. Ford, 52, of Homestead, was making arrangements to return to Somerset County for his arraignment, Lazzari-Strasiser said Wednesday.

A preliminary hearing for Todd and Knight is scheduled for Aug. 31.

Pesto writes for the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Tribune- Democrat.