TURNER — Two Leavitt Area High School students have been charged with unlawful prizefighting after state police broke up a fight on Route 117 earlier this month.

In February, two other students and one former student were charged with similar crimes.

According to Trooper Michael Chavez, a teacher driving west on Route 117 toward Buckfield, about a mile past the Route 4 intersection, spotted a group of what appeared to be 20 teens of various ages on the lawn of a private home. Among that group, Chavez said, she saw “what appeared to be two teenagers about to engage in a boxing match of sorts,” complete with boxing gloves.

The teacher called Leavitt Assistant Principal Wendy Hardy to report what she had seen, and Hardy then called police to report a possible fight.

Chavez, who happened to be very close to the house where the fight appeared to be taking shape, responded to the Route 117 address. As he passed the house, he said, he saw two boys outside wearing boxing gloves, and “by the time I turned around and pulled into the driveway, the boxing gloves were off and in a corner” of the property.

One boy who was standing with others in the group appeared to be preparing to record the fight on his cellphone, Chavez said, but was stopped before starting to record.

Police charged each of the two 17-year-old boys Chavez saw with gloves on with misdemeanor unlawful prizefighting.

The identities of the youths are confidential by state law because they are juveniles.

According to Chavez, one of the boys recently moved to the Turner area and another is a longtime Turner resident. He did not think either boy had a previous criminal conviction.

Chavez said neither boy was connected to the arrests in February, but believed that some “observers in the audience were connected to other fights” in the past, “just as casual observers.”

In February, Chavez charged Edwin Harrington Jr., 18, of Greene and two 17-year-old Leavitt Area High School students with unlawful prizefighting at the school. Harrington was also charged with burglary in that case.

The two so-called “fight club” incidents are part of ongoing problems, Chavez said, locally and across the nation.

He had no indication that any money ever changed hands in the Turner fights, but said the charge of unlawful prizefighting applies to any premeditated, organized unsanctioned fight.

In the most recent case, while none of the observers were charged with criminal activity, Chavez said he spoke to them about the dangers of what they were doing.

One of these kids, he said, “could take a light head shot, the kid goes home and is found five hours later and is dead because of an aneurysm.”

In recent years, there have been numerous reports of teens seriously injured while participating in these fight rings, including a young Australian boy killed in 2009 after he was punched in the head during a student-organized fight. The punch was recorded on the cellphone of another student watching the event.

Chavez said it’s important for the teens to know how serious this crime is, both in terms of punitive action by the courts and personal injury, and said he and other officers will vigorously enforce charges against teens engaged in these prize fights.

Trooper Eric Paquette assisted Chavez with the arrests.

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