{"id":321445,"date":"2026-05-18T17:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321445\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T17:12:29","slug":"high-school-surf-star-allegedly-beaten-branded-pedophile-and-terrorized-by-teammates-sues-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/321445\/","title":{"rendered":"High school surf star allegedly beaten, branded \u2018pedophile\u2019 and terrorized by teammates sues school"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Long Beach surfing standout who was brutally beaten by his high school surf teammates, threatened with death and repeatedly branded a \u201cpedophile\u201d on campus is suing the Long Beach Unified School District for allegedly failing to protect him.<\/p>\n

\"William<\/p>\n

William Frey was beaten by his surf teamates. Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam<\/p>\n

Wilson High school surf team member William Frey alleges he was brutally beaten by two of his fellow surfing team members including Owen Keller in April 2025. Keller was upset at Frey because he was hanging out with Keller\u2019s younger sister, according to a new lawsuit obtained by The California Post.<\/p>\n

\"Keller<\/p>\n

Keller ordered his teammate to record the brutal attack with his cellphone. Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam<\/p>\n

Frey, 17, was at his family home with Keller\u2019s 15-year-old sister, Ainsley, on April 17, 2025, when she received a call from her brother Owen. With the phone on speaker, Owen demanded to know where Ainsley was before allegedly threatening Frey, according to court papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell that motherf\u2014-r that if you\u2019re with him, I\u2019m going to beat the s\u2013t out of him because I\u2019m not f\u2014-n\u2019 playing,\u201d Keller allegedly said. Three minutes later, Keller was at Frey\u2019s door and yelling, \u201cOpen the door, William, I\u2019m going to f\u2014-n\u2019 kill you,\u201d the court papers said.<\/p>\n

Keller was ordered off the property, but allegedly returned 30 minutes later with Samuel Katz and Joseph Ziroli, two other members of the surf team. The trio illegally entered the home through a broken back door, yelling, \u201cWe\u2019re going to ruin your life,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Frey was found hiding in the garage after Katz allegedly kicked in the bottom panel of the garage door and entered. Keller told Ziroli to \u201crecord this s\u2013t,\u201d then Katz and Keller punched Frey repeatedly in the head and kicked him, striking him 15 to 20 times each, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Katz and Ziroli are also named defendants in the lawsuit. However, Ziroli\u2019s father, David, told The Post his son did not take part in the beating, though he did record it.<\/p>\n

\"Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam\"<\/p>\n

Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam<\/p>\n

Bystanders pulled the three alleged attackers away from Frey, who fled down the street as the trio allegedly chased him in a white Volkswagen. Frey eventually found refuge in a neighbor\u2019s yard before making it back home, the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n

Long Beach police later photographed Frey\u2019s alleged injuries, which included red bruising across his back, two 1-inch cuts and swelling to his head, according to the filing.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also claims Frey\u2019s home suffered more than $5,000 in damage, including a broken TV.<\/p>\n

\"Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam\"<\/p>\n

Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam<\/p>\n

Following the attack, Keller allegedly continued to threaten Frey via text by sending \u201cyou got more to come.\u201d Video of the assault was posted on the surf team\u2019s Snapchat channel and also \u201ccirculated among the broader school community,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Frey\u2019s mom, Celinda Bradley, who is also a plaintiff in the suit, told school administrators that Keller was continuing to make threats on April 22, five days after the beating, the suit says.<\/p>\n

Wilson High principal Rebecca Caverly, who is also a defendant, was notified of the attack by Bradley, who shared evidence of threats, including audio of the defendant saying \u201cwe\u2019ll just get you at school,\u201d the lawsuit claims.<\/p>\n

\"Wilson<\/p>\n

Wilson High principal Rebecca Caverly wilson.lbschools.net<\/p>\n

The assistant principal, Keith Roberson, who is also named as a defendant, told Bradley he couldn\u2019t do much because the assault had occurred off campus, the papers say.<\/p>\n

\"Wilson<\/p>\n

Wilson High School assistant principal Keith Roberson wilson.lbschools.net<\/p>\n

On April 25, 2025, a temporary restraining order was issued by LA Superior Court against the three alleged attackers prohibiting any contact with Frey and ordering a distance of \u201cat least 25 yards\u201d from the plaintiff, records show.<\/p>\n

Frey continued to be harassed by classmates who called him a pedophile because of his perceived friendship with the 15-year-old Ainsley, the suit says.<\/p>\n

\"Ainsley<\/p>\n

Ainsley and Owen Keller Instagram\/wilsonhigh_surfteam<\/p>\n

On May 5, an anonymous death threat was submitted through Wilson High School\u2019s official \u201cSay Something\u201d reporting application that said, \u201cI\u2019m going to kill William Frey,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The school then allegedly put together a \u201csafety plan\u201d requiring Frey to arrive at school 10 minutes late and leave 10 minutes early.<\/p>\n

Despite the restraining order that was in place, the Long Beach Unified School district \u201cfailed to implement any meaningful measures to enforce them,\u201d and all of the students were allowed to participate in surf class, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The temporary restraining orders were eventually dismissed.<\/p>\n

Keller, Katz, and Ziroli were allegedly permitted to continue attending all classes, participate in surf team activities and participate in all senior activities. \u201cFrey felt unable to safely attend these same events,\u201d according to the documents.<\/p>\n

Frey \u201cisolated himself socially\u201d and \u201csuffered severe mental health consequences,\u201d the suit says.<\/p>\n

Parents of the three surfers are also named as defendants in the lawsuit that asks for general, special, punitive, and compensatory damages in amounts to be established at trial.<\/p>\n

Requests for comment from the Long Beach Unified School District and Keller, Katz, and Ziroli weren\u2019t immediately returned.<\/p>\n

Frey has since relocated from Long Beach and is attending college, the papers say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Long Beach surfing standout who was brutally beaten by his high school surf teammates, threatened with death…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[133993,133991,131,133,132,49733,133989,133990,133992,133988,35904],"class_list":["post-321445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-brother-owen","tag-joseph-ziroli","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-long-beach-unified-school-district","tag-owen-keller","tag-samuel-katz","tag-surf-team","tag-william-frey","tag-wilson-high-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}