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The families of two alleged victims of a hazing incident at Grant High School have lashed out at KGW TV Channel 8 for airing an interview with a woman they say posed as a relative of one of the victims.
The families have told school officials that the person interviewed was not a relative, and that the KGW interview provided false information about what allegedly happened during the incident.
KGW aired the interview Wednesday. The station didn't give her name and kept her face in shadow while she described in detail the sexual assaults the Grant High athletes allegedly experienced.
But the families say none of what she described happened to the athletes, and that none of their relatives sat for this interview.
Portland Public Schools spokesman Matt Shelby says the family of one victim called Thursday complaining that the interview wasn't true and didn't involve a relative.
The other family told Shelby the same thing.
Shelby says KGW's news director, Rick Jacobs, agreed to take down the video from the station's website but wouldn't run a retraction. Shelby says Jacobs told him the station couldn't track down the woman after the interview to confirm her story.
According to Shelby, Jacobs said KGW knows where she lives but couldn't find her.
"The frustration we have is that we had information coming directly from the parents, but (KGW) was not very receptive of the information I had to offer," Shelby says.
Jacobs hasn't returned WW's calls for comment.
Portland Police are still investigating the alleged hazing incident from Jan. 12. Four students are under police investigation. Portland Public school officials three have returned to Grant after being suspended; a fourth was expelled.
WWeek 2015