3 Hogs suspended after theft charges
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football players Maudrecus Humphrey, Andrew Peterson and Marquel Wade were arrested Saturday by University of Arkansas police and charged with felony residential burglary.
Humphrey, 20, and Peterson, 19, were charged with nine counts, while Wade, 20, was charged with one count. The burglarized property, allegedly taken from unlocked dorm rooms, included laptop computers and textbooks and was valued at $4,817, according to the UAPD preliminary arrest report.
The three were booked into the Washington County Detention Center between 11:58 a.m. and 12:03 p.m. Saturday.
Sgt. Tom Muggy of the Washington County Sheriff’s office, said Humphrey, Peterson and Wade would spend the night at the detention center awaiting a ruling on bail, which is expected today.
Arkansas football Coach John L. Smith announced an indefinite suspension for all three players.
“We have high standards
for our student-athletes and I expect them to conduct themselves appropriately,” Smith said through a UA spokesman. “Poor conduct and misbehavior will not be tolerated and is not what we expect from the University of Arkansas football program.”
Athletic Director Jeff Long, through a university spokesman, declined an Arkansas Democrat-gazette request for comment Saturday.
News of the arrests adds another negative headline to more than two months of off-the-field incidents surrounding Arkansas football, including Coach Bobby Petrino’s April 1 motorcycle wreck and the subsequent scandal that led to his firing April 10.
Six Razorbacks football players have been arrested since mid-march, including four since Petrino’s firing.
Wade, of Jacksonville, Fla., led the Razorbacks in receptions during spring scrimmages and was projected to have a big sophomore season in 2012. Wade averaged 25.6 yards per kickoff return last season and had an 85-yard return for a touchdown against New Mexico.
He was also ejected from a game against Vanderbilt for a flagrant hit, and was suspended for a game because of it.
Humphrey, a receiver out of Hoover, Ala., had one catch last season, but his numbers were projected to rise in the fall. Peterson, a tight end from Seagoville, Texas, redshirted last season, his first on campus, while recovering from a knee injury.
Wade is alleged to have entered one room, said UAPD Lt. Gary Crain, while Humphrey and Peterson are alleged to have entered nine rooms.
The players, who were arrested after an investigation that lasted more than a week, were identified by security video in the Northwest Quad dorms, where the burglaries occurred, and through eyewitness reports, according to the report. Some of the stolen property was recovered at a local bookstore and some of it was found in Peterson’s suite on the Northwest Quad, according to the report.
According to the preliminary arrest report, the UAPD responded to a burglary call regarding the theft of a laptop computer May 1 and went on to investigate 10 reports over the next week from the Northwest Quad buildings on the Arkansas campus.
Stolen property from various rooms included laptops, cash, textbooks and DVDS, according to the UAPD.