The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
UGA tailback arrested on marijuana charge
Police report says player denied smoking marijuana in his room.
Campus police respond to a call about the smell of pot coming from a dorm room shared by Elijah Holyfield and two teammates.
ATHENS — Georgia tailback Elijah Holyfield was arrested on a marijuana possession charge outside his dormitory room early Monday, after UGA police were called by a resident assistant who detected the odor of pot.
Police found small amounts of marijuana after obtaining a search warrant. Holyfield had declined a request for a search of his room. Holyfield denied to police that he had been smoking marijuana, according to a police report released Monday.
The incident occurred just before midnight Sunday at Vandiver Hall. A resident assistant called campus police after smelling marijuana smoke coming from a dorm room, a suite that Holyfield shares with two teammates. When police officer Jacob Herndon arrived at the room, he could “immediately smell” marijuana, he wrote in his report. He knocked and Holyfield answered the door, his eyes appearing bloodshot, Herndon wrote.
“I advised Holyfield that I could smell the odor of burning marijuana coming from his room and asked if they had been smoking. He stated that he had not and
did not know what I was talking about,” Herndon wrote. “Holyfield stated that he was sitting on the couch watching TV while his roommates were asleep.”
Holyfield then declined the officer’s request to search the room. At that point, Herndon asked Holyfield and his roommates, Mecole Hardman and Deangelo Gibbs, to step outside. Two other officers arrived as backup while Herndon went to obtain a search warrant.
The warrant was issued at 1:01 a.m. and was executed 24 minutes later.
There was no “contraband” found in either Hardman’s or Gibbs’ room. In Holyfield’s room, an officer found a glass pipe located inside an iPhone box that contained what she thought was marijuana residue.
The officer also found a plastic box that contained a “small loose suspected bud of marijuana.” Because officers also noticed a window was open, they checked below and found a cigarillo bag containing seven buds of “suspected unburned marijuana” on the ground.
“After gathering what we found, I asked Holyfield if the suspected marijuana that we found belonged to him,” Herndon wrote. “He stated that he had no idea how the marijuana got in his room. He also stated that he knew nothing about the marijuana thrown outside the window.”
Holyfield was arrested and taken to jail. He was bonded out about an hour later.
The team has no official comment, other than coach Kirby Smart saying through a spokesman that he was aware of the incident. Normally, a first violation of UGA’s marijuana policy calls for a onegame suspension for football players.