GREAT BEND -After a near month-long investigation, there was no evidence of sexual assault found on a Great Bend High School bus on February 6. The Ellsworth County Sheriff’s Office handled one of the two alleged assault cases involving the high school’s swim team.

Michele O’Neil is the mother of one of the victims in the alleged assault.

While her son’s case has been turned over to the Ellsworth County Attorney for prosecution, she was not too surprised to see there were no sexual assault charges.

“I knew this was going to happen because our Kansas laws are really behind times,” she said.

Ellsworth County Sheriff Tracy Ploutz found five suspects committing battery and three suspects for criminal restraint. Despite no sexual assault charges coming from the investigation, O’Neil felt the assault that happened to her freshman son was more than just battery.

“This is definitely more than battery,” she said. “I’m grateful that the witnesses that were also getting hit are now victims and have battery charges on them.”

O’Neil is confident Ellsworth County District Attorney Joe Shepack will press charges when he takes a look at the case because the evidence leaves no doubt. The alleged assault took place on the bus in Ellsworth County when the swim team was coming back to Great Bend from a swim meet in Manhattan.

A separate alleged assault case involving the swim team on February 3rd is being investigated by the Barton County Sheriff’s Office.