NEWS

Police reported that a FAU football player and his friend stole 400 pounds of copper wire from a scrap yard on Sat., June 11.

When the scrap yard was empty, redshirt freshmen Cortez Ash and his friend, Donovan Roberts, 21, of Vero Beach, entered, loaded copper wire onto pull dollies and successfully removed nearly $1300 worth of copper wire from the facility. When the owners arrived, they found their video cameras had captured the crime, and were even able to show recognizable faces.

The owners, Shannon Cook and Mike Carroll, called the police to report the crime. After their initial report, though, they had to call back once more.

Around 11 a.m., Ash and Roberts returned to the scrap yard, trying to sell back the stolen wire to the same people they had stolen it from. Carroll recognized the faces from the video and called the police again. Deputies arrived and read Ash and Roberts their Miranda rights.

In initial interviews with police, Roberts claimed he acted alone and Ash was uninvolved. Minutes later, however, Roberts recanted. He admitted that both he and Ash had stolen the material.

Ash was subsequently charged with grand theft, a 3rd degree felony dealing with stolen property and burglary of businesses.

The FAU football team was aware of the alleged crime, and senior defensive tackle Jarvis Givens expressed disappointment.

“I felt like he messed up by going back to the same scrap yard,” said Givens. “But at the same time, he could have went a better route of getting money if he needed it.”

Given the legal situation, the alleged crime also puts Ash into limbo with regards to his future role on the team.

“I was disappointed, because he’s a big asset to the team,” said Givens. “Really, right now, I don’t think we can afford to lose him.”

Ash posted a $7,500 bail, and faces a hearing on all of his charges on Monday, July 25th at 8:30 a.m.