BOISE, Idaho - The investigation into the sexual assault of a disabled black football player by his teammates at a small-town Idaho high school showed that crucial evidence was collected by school employees, not law enforcement officials.

The case unfolded in the tiny farming village of Dietrich, where John R.K. Howard and two teammates were charged with sodomizing the victim with a clothes hanger in 2015 in the school locker room.

An Associated Press review of 2,000 pages of investigation documents found that school officials did not immediately report the crime. Instead, the superintendent began interviewing suspects and potential witnesses.

The sex assault charge against Howard was later dropped. He was sentenced last week to probation for felony injury to a child. The other two cases are being handled in juvenile court.