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3 UD football players arrested in robbery
Police recover drugs, weapons at players' Newark apartments; fourth suspect also a student
By TERRI SANGINITI, KEVIN TRESOLINI and LEE WILLIAMS
The News Journal
03/07/2006
Just a week before spring practice, three University of Delaware football players were arrested in the robbery of a walk-on player of cocaine, marijuana and steroids.
Two of the players wore masks during Sunday's home invasion, police said. Another waited outside the apartment in the 600 block of Lehigh Road. A fourth suspect, who was not a player but is a UD student, is accused of pointing a shotgun at the victim. All four were expelled pending the investigation.
On Monday, instead of fielding questions about the NCAA Division I-AA school's quest for a seventh national title, administrators spent the day fielding questions about the football program's image, damage to recruiting and the players' potential use of drugs -- including NCAA-banned anabolic steroids.
"It's been a real tough day," UD athletic director Edgar Johnson said. "I think, by and large, everyone's disappointed in the kids. You recruit kids, you invite them to your campus, and you just hope they're quality people with character. Then they do something stupid like this."
UD linebacker Demetrice Alexander, 20; running back Danny Jones, 19; defensive back Jeffrey Robinson, 21; and Tyrone Heggins, 22, all of Newark, were charged with two counts each of first-degree robbery and unlawful imprisonment as well as first-degree burglary and other offenses.
All four were committed to the Young Correctional Institution after failing to post bails ranging from $24,000 to $55,500. Robinson has since been released.
Fans took the news hard. Newark's Barbara Owens, a director in the Blue Hen Touchdown Club and a 1958 Delaware graduate, has attended UD football games for 52 years.
"For me, I just can't understand this," she said. "These players are getting a free education at a great university and everything they should need. I know you are innocent until proven guilty, but it sounds like the police caught them red-handed.
I'm appalled by it."
Players suspended
Coach K.C. Keeler would not permit players to be interviewed. Keeler also chose not to comment about the arrests beyond an official statement released earlier Monday by UD, which announced the players had been suspended from the team.
"They will be terminated from the program permanently if they are found to have any involvement in the crime," Keeler said.
Cynthia Cummings, associate vice president for campus life, said the Office of Judicial Affairs will take steps to expel the students from the campus and that the "action will remain in effect until the charges are dismissed or until the students are acquitted of the charges."
Police identified the four assailants within hours of the Sunday robbery and tracked them to their apartments, where they recovered guns and drugs. Officers did not find the 18 stolen vials of injectable steroids.
NCAA spokesman Dana Thomas would not say Monday whether the organization would investigate steroid use among UD football players in the wake of the arrests, but an attorney who specializes in such cases said that would be unlikely.
"It's a huge stretch to try to tie those facts into a possible NCAA rules violations," said Rick Evrard, who was retained by Delaware State University to investigate possible NCAA violations. "Criminal charges against student athletes have nothing to do with athletics."
The NCAA probably would not investigate unless the athletic director or department was in some way involved or encouraged the students to take steroids, Evrard said.
Newark police Chief William Nefosky said the burglary and robbery were unusual for UD athletes.
"We've certainly over the course of the years arrested and had investigations with university students, but nothing of this magnitude," he said. "The overwhelming majority of university student-athletes give the police department in this community very little problem, if any."
In February 2005, UD wide receiver Justin Long was suspended from school after an altercation on campus. He later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined $100.
In March 2004, a UD running back, Lonnie Starks, was charged with second-degree burglary and theft after textbooks were stolen from a fellow student's dormitory room. The case was dropped when the victim didn't appear in court.
Home invasion
In Sunday's case, according to court records, the 20-year-old victim, Justin Hackett, a walk-on sophomore football player, heard a knock on his door about 12:50 a.m., looked out the window and saw Robinson, whom he knows, in front of his apartment.
He returned to the door to find someone trying to pry it open.
When he opened the door himself, three masked men, one armed with a pump shotgun, started to fight with him.
As they were arguing, Hackett yanked the masks from the faces of two of the assailants, whom he recognized as Alexander and Jones, police said.
During the altercation, the gunman -- later identified as Heggins -- pointed a shotgun at the victim and yelled, "Let me shoot him," police said in court records.
The assailants forced him face-down on the floor, and the gunman put the shotgun to the back of his neck, police said. Then they grabbed him and forced him into the closet.
Hackett's girlfriend, meanwhile, was in the bathroom. She walked out to find a masked man pointing a shotgun at her; the assailants stole her cellphone and $50, police said.
After ransacking the apartment, the assailants took Hackett's wallet, containing $350, along with the 18 vials of liquid steroids, a small bag of marijuana and an undisclosed quantity of cocaine, police said.
The victim, who has not been charged, suffered a small cut to his right cheek.
"I kind of know the guys, but I wouldn't call them friends," he said. "I'd like to know why they picked on me."
'I'm the victim'
Hackett said Robinson called him about 10:30 p.m. to ask him what he was doing. When he told him he had some friends over, Robinson told him he would call him back.
The next time he saw him, he was standing outside his apartment. After a search of his apartment after the robbery, Hackett determined that in addition to the cash, credit cards and identification stolen, a gold necklace, diamond stud earrings, two iPods and hair clippers were missing.
Hackett said the anabolic steroids he reported stolen were purchased at a gym for his personal use in the off-season. He said he was not presently using them.
Monday afternoon, Hackett was dismissed from the team and his locker was cleared out.
"I have no involvement in it," he said. "I'm the victim. There's no grounds to dismiss me from the team."
He said that although money and steroids were taken in the robbery, he had no cocaine or marijuana in the apartment. And he told police about the steroids himself.
"I just wanted everything on the table, I didn't want it to look like I was dodging or trying to hide anything from police," Hackett said.
Shortly after the attack, at Alexander's home, police recovered a Remington pump shotgun and 101 grams of marijuana individually wrapped in 59 packages, according to police. At Robinson's home, officers recovered 14 grams of marijuana, a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and another Remington pump shotgun.
At Heggins' residence, they seized a Mossberg pistol-grip shotgun, along with 4 grams of cocaine and 3 grams of marijuana.
'Normal for Madison'
Madison Drive, where the three football players live, is just across Elkton Road from the Park Place Apartments, where the victim and his girlfriend live. It's a party neighborhood, situated on Newark's west side, consisting of rowhouse apartments with broken windows and spray-painted graffiti. Monday, the street was littered with empty beer cans and trash.
"Anything in the world can be bought on this block," said Luke Crowley, who lives near the suspects' apartments.
"Most people here mind their own business," he said. "Parties go on here all the time."
Aleisha Dzwonkowski, 16, was taking care of her 18-month-old nephew Monday. She said she was startled the morning before when five police cars suddenly appeared and a SWAT team forced its way into Robinson's apartment, next door to her home.
"When the police raided it, I thought they had the wrong house," Dzwonkowski said. "He [Robinson] had parties every now and then, but I thought he was a pretty good guy."
She wasn't surprised by the police raid.
"It's normal for Madison," she said. "It's kind of a bad area -- lots of drinking and drugs."
Students living at the Park Place Apartments expressed concern Monday about the weekend break-in.
"It's really surprising to think that someone would break into these apartments, especially knowing it was all students," said Danell Snyder, a UD junior. "And, if it was students doing it, that's just ridiculous."
Junior Samuel Mweberi, who also lives at Park Place, said he plans to move out.
"I'm getting scared like the place is not safe," Mweberi said.
Resident Liz Buskirk agreed.
"We always think we live in a kinda safe place," the UD junior said. "But it's kind of a slap in the face, like it is the real world."
Staff reporters Michele Besso and Patti Petitte contributed to this article. Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com. Contact Kevin Tresolini at 324-2807 or ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com.
Police recover drugs, weapons at players' Newark apartments; fourth suspect also a student
By TERRI SANGINITI, KEVIN TRESOLINI and LEE WILLIAMS
The News Journal
03/07/2006
Just a week before spring practice, three University of Delaware football players were arrested in the robbery of a walk-on player of cocaine, marijuana and steroids.
Two of the players wore masks during Sunday's home invasion, police said. Another waited outside the apartment in the 600 block of Lehigh Road. A fourth suspect, who was not a player but is a UD student, is accused of pointing a shotgun at the victim. All four were expelled pending the investigation.
On Monday, instead of fielding questions about the NCAA Division I-AA school's quest for a seventh national title, administrators spent the day fielding questions about the football program's image, damage to recruiting and the players' potential use of drugs -- including NCAA-banned anabolic steroids.
"It's been a real tough day," UD athletic director Edgar Johnson said. "I think, by and large, everyone's disappointed in the kids. You recruit kids, you invite them to your campus, and you just hope they're quality people with character. Then they do something stupid like this."
UD linebacker Demetrice Alexander, 20; running back Danny Jones, 19; defensive back Jeffrey Robinson, 21; and Tyrone Heggins, 22, all of Newark, were charged with two counts each of first-degree robbery and unlawful imprisonment as well as first-degree burglary and other offenses.
All four were committed to the Young Correctional Institution after failing to post bails ranging from $24,000 to $55,500. Robinson has since been released.
Fans took the news hard. Newark's Barbara Owens, a director in the Blue Hen Touchdown Club and a 1958 Delaware graduate, has attended UD football games for 52 years.
"For me, I just can't understand this," she said. "These players are getting a free education at a great university and everything they should need. I know you are innocent until proven guilty, but it sounds like the police caught them red-handed.
I'm appalled by it."
Players suspended
Coach K.C. Keeler would not permit players to be interviewed. Keeler also chose not to comment about the arrests beyond an official statement released earlier Monday by UD, which announced the players had been suspended from the team.
"They will be terminated from the program permanently if they are found to have any involvement in the crime," Keeler said.
Cynthia Cummings, associate vice president for campus life, said the Office of Judicial Affairs will take steps to expel the students from the campus and that the "action will remain in effect until the charges are dismissed or until the students are acquitted of the charges."
Police identified the four assailants within hours of the Sunday robbery and tracked them to their apartments, where they recovered guns and drugs. Officers did not find the 18 stolen vials of injectable steroids.
NCAA spokesman Dana Thomas would not say Monday whether the organization would investigate steroid use among UD football players in the wake of the arrests, but an attorney who specializes in such cases said that would be unlikely.
"It's a huge stretch to try to tie those facts into a possible NCAA rules violations," said Rick Evrard, who was retained by Delaware State University to investigate possible NCAA violations. "Criminal charges against student athletes have nothing to do with athletics."
The NCAA probably would not investigate unless the athletic director or department was in some way involved or encouraged the students to take steroids, Evrard said.
Newark police Chief William Nefosky said the burglary and robbery were unusual for UD athletes.
"We've certainly over the course of the years arrested and had investigations with university students, but nothing of this magnitude," he said. "The overwhelming majority of university student-athletes give the police department in this community very little problem, if any."
In February 2005, UD wide receiver Justin Long was suspended from school after an altercation on campus. He later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was fined $100.
In March 2004, a UD running back, Lonnie Starks, was charged with second-degree burglary and theft after textbooks were stolen from a fellow student's dormitory room. The case was dropped when the victim didn't appear in court.
Home invasion
In Sunday's case, according to court records, the 20-year-old victim, Justin Hackett, a walk-on sophomore football player, heard a knock on his door about 12:50 a.m., looked out the window and saw Robinson, whom he knows, in front of his apartment.
He returned to the door to find someone trying to pry it open.
When he opened the door himself, three masked men, one armed with a pump shotgun, started to fight with him.
As they were arguing, Hackett yanked the masks from the faces of two of the assailants, whom he recognized as Alexander and Jones, police said.
During the altercation, the gunman -- later identified as Heggins -- pointed a shotgun at the victim and yelled, "Let me shoot him," police said in court records.
The assailants forced him face-down on the floor, and the gunman put the shotgun to the back of his neck, police said. Then they grabbed him and forced him into the closet.
Hackett's girlfriend, meanwhile, was in the bathroom. She walked out to find a masked man pointing a shotgun at her; the assailants stole her cellphone and $50, police said.
After ransacking the apartment, the assailants took Hackett's wallet, containing $350, along with the 18 vials of liquid steroids, a small bag of marijuana and an undisclosed quantity of cocaine, police said.
The victim, who has not been charged, suffered a small cut to his right cheek.
"I kind of know the guys, but I wouldn't call them friends," he said. "I'd like to know why they picked on me."
'I'm the victim'
Hackett said Robinson called him about 10:30 p.m. to ask him what he was doing. When he told him he had some friends over, Robinson told him he would call him back.
The next time he saw him, he was standing outside his apartment. After a search of his apartment after the robbery, Hackett determined that in addition to the cash, credit cards and identification stolen, a gold necklace, diamond stud earrings, two iPods and hair clippers were missing.
Hackett said the anabolic steroids he reported stolen were purchased at a gym for his personal use in the off-season. He said he was not presently using them.
Monday afternoon, Hackett was dismissed from the team and his locker was cleared out.
"I have no involvement in it," he said. "I'm the victim. There's no grounds to dismiss me from the team."
He said that although money and steroids were taken in the robbery, he had no cocaine or marijuana in the apartment. And he told police about the steroids himself.
"I just wanted everything on the table, I didn't want it to look like I was dodging or trying to hide anything from police," Hackett said.
Shortly after the attack, at Alexander's home, police recovered a Remington pump shotgun and 101 grams of marijuana individually wrapped in 59 packages, according to police. At Robinson's home, officers recovered 14 grams of marijuana, a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and another Remington pump shotgun.
At Heggins' residence, they seized a Mossberg pistol-grip shotgun, along with 4 grams of cocaine and 3 grams of marijuana.
'Normal for Madison'
Madison Drive, where the three football players live, is just across Elkton Road from the Park Place Apartments, where the victim and his girlfriend live. It's a party neighborhood, situated on Newark's west side, consisting of rowhouse apartments with broken windows and spray-painted graffiti. Monday, the street was littered with empty beer cans and trash.
"Anything in the world can be bought on this block," said Luke Crowley, who lives near the suspects' apartments.
"Most people here mind their own business," he said. "Parties go on here all the time."
Aleisha Dzwonkowski, 16, was taking care of her 18-month-old nephew Monday. She said she was startled the morning before when five police cars suddenly appeared and a SWAT team forced its way into Robinson's apartment, next door to her home.
"When the police raided it, I thought they had the wrong house," Dzwonkowski said. "He [Robinson] had parties every now and then, but I thought he was a pretty good guy."
She wasn't surprised by the police raid.
"It's normal for Madison," she said. "It's kind of a bad area -- lots of drinking and drugs."
Students living at the Park Place Apartments expressed concern Monday about the weekend break-in.
"It's really surprising to think that someone would break into these apartments, especially knowing it was all students," said Danell Snyder, a UD junior. "And, if it was students doing it, that's just ridiculous."
Junior Samuel Mweberi, who also lives at Park Place, said he plans to move out.
"I'm getting scared like the place is not safe," Mweberi said.
Resident Liz Buskirk agreed.
"We always think we live in a kinda safe place," the UD junior said. "But it's kind of a slap in the face, like it is the real world."
Staff reporters Michele Besso and Patti Petitte contributed to this article. Contact Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com. Contact Kevin Tresolini at 324-2807 or ktresolini@delawareonline.com. Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com.