Transgender student reports sex assault at Hercules school

(03-03) 22:21 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A 15-year-old transgender student reported being attacked and sexually assaulted Monday at the same Hercules school where another transgender student was involved in a fight four months ago, police said.

The latest incident - which is being investigated as a hate crime - was reported at Hercules Middle/High School on Refugio Valley Road about 11 a.m. by a transgender student who identifies as male, said Hercules police Detective Connie Van Putten.

The student said he was leaving the boys' bathroom when in a building on the high school part of campus when he was confronted by three male juveniles, Van Putten said.

The three pushed him into the bathroom's disabled stall, where they physically and sexually assaulted him, police said.

The boy's parents were notified, and he was taken to a hospital, Van Putten said.

Police were interviewing witnesses and had not identified suspects.

On Nov. 13, another transgender student, Jewlyes Gutierrez, 16, got into a fight with several students on campus, with a portion of the confrontation caught by a witness's cell-phone camera.

Gutierrez, who was born male but considers herself female, was charged with misdemeanor battery, but if she successfully completes a conflict resolution program, the allegation will be dropped, a judge said last month.

Charles Ramsey, president of the West Contra Costa County Unified School District board, said of Monday's incident, "I want to tell the parents that my heart goes out to them. I feel really bad for the victim."

Ramsey also sounded a warning to the attackers: "You will be expelled. You will be punished, and what we'll ask is that you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. You can't assault students on campus, no matter who they are."