The person who stole UNM football player Brandon Lewis’ belongings Aug. 25 confessed to the act, and, as a result, that player was dismissed from the team shortly after the incident occurred, an Athletics spokesman said Monday.
UNM sports information director Frank Mercogliano said that one player, who is not named in the UNMPD report, was booted off the team during fall training camp because of the incident.
He didn’t say whether anybody else has been implicated in the incident — specifically defensive back Ravonne Carter, who according to the report told a teammate he intended to steal from Lewis’ room the same night.
“I believe that’s what the police are trying to determine,” Mercogliano said.
Mercogliano said additional punishment could be rendered pending the results of UNMPD’s investigation.
The report said $1,800 worth of electronics was stolen from Lewis’ room, including a laptop and an Xbox 360. Lewis’ belongings were returned soon after the incident.
“Out of respect” for the player and on account of him being remorseful, Mercogliano said the Athletics Department withheld the player’s name, adding that it didn’t want to damage his chances of playing football at another school.
In a Monday radio interview with 610 The Sports Animal, Mercogliano said given the team dynamics involved, Lewis was put in a precarious situation because the theft involved one of his teammates.
“It was probably tough, but he did the right thing because I don’t care what team you’re on, that just can’t happen,” he said during the show. “If you don’t trust your teammates, it’s going to be hard to do anything on a football field. It’s almost like being a quarterback. Quarterbacks have to trust their linemen, especially that left tackle because he’s got your blindside.”
Two of Lewis’ suite-mates, redshirt freshman offensive linemen Darryl Johnson and Calvin McDowney, told police they were in their rooms when the alleged incident occurred Aug. 25 and did not see or hear anything, the report said. Their rooms were searched for the missing items, but police found nothing, according to the report.
Police collected a silver knife with fingerprints believed to have been used in the break-in and sent the knife to a lab for testing.
UNMPD officials said Monday that there are no suspects, and test results on the silver knife will be made available soon, but they didn’t have a specific date. So far, UNMPD officials said, Carter has yet to give police a statement.
Locksley told the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday that the matter was handled properly internally, but all involved parties will continue to work with investigators to piece together the timeline.
“When this took place, I talked to all parties involved and by it being a criminal matter, I can’t go into specifics,” he said. “I feel comfortable that we’ve handled it and managed it from our perspective as a program the way it should.”
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Shaun Griswold (news@dailylobo.com) contributed to this report.
