UGA aware of accusations in Columbus that could affect eligibility of Jarvis Jones, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
A police investigation in Columbus has uncovered alleged illegal activity in the parks and recreation department there that may or may not affect the eligibility of Georgia football player Jarvis Jones and basketball signee Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Sunday that an unauthorized bank account controlled by the parks director and one of his associates was used to pay for flights to and from Los Angeles for Jones while he was playing football for Southern Cal, and for the cell phone bill of Caldwell-Pope’s mother. Both Jones and Caldwell-Pope played AAU basketball for the Georgia Blazers, a “city-funded, Nike-sponsored” group overseen by parks director Tony Adams and Herman Porter.
Adams allegedly used the team’s credit card to pay for four flights for Jones to or from Los Angeles worth a total of $828 from June to October of 2009, according to the police investigation. Also, police allege Porter paid the $280 Verizon phone bill of Rhonda Caldwell in July of 2009 with some of the money coming out of the team’s account.
Eric Baumgartner, Georgia’s compliance director, told the Ledger-Enquirer, “I have not received or heard of anything” from the NCAA regarding the matter.
Reached Sunday, athletic association spokesman Claude Felton told the AJC, “We are aware of it and will do our due diligence in looking into the matter.”
Jones, a sophomore linebacker out of Carver High, transferred to UGA last year and is slated to start at outside linebacker this season. Caldwell-Pope, a five-star shooting guard, signed with the Bulldogs out of Greenville High last November and is scheduled to enroll at UGA this summer.
Whether or not this activity would affect either players’ eligibility at UGA is unclear. The newspaper cited a similar case with a Baylor basketball this past spring. Forward Perry Jones was declared ineligible after an investigation determined that, while he was in high school, an AAU coach provided his mother with three 15-day loans that did not total more than $1,000 and paid for the player to travel to a preseason pro football game in San Diego, which cost $4,100. Perry Jones was suspended from Baylor’s first-round Big 12 tournament game the first five games of the 2011-2012 season.
CLICK HERE to read the full report from the Ledger-Enquirer. Check back for further developments.
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281 comments Add your comment
We (UF) own UGA
June 26th, 2011
7:03 pm
Gee I’m sure Saint Richt knew nothing about Jarvis Jones getting paid flights and pre-paid cards to mom…..Here comes the NCAA…Time to investigate…I’m sure they’ll find more dirt with the bag-man running the recruiting anyway. hahaha
Bigboy
June 26th, 2011
7:06 pm
Why would Richt know about something Jones did 3 years ago?He signed with USC out of HS not UGA.
John Galt
June 26th, 2011
7:09 pm
With what we know so far, UGA doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it.
DGDs, relax.
Jealous Haters, shut up.
fpice
June 26th, 2011
7:11 pm
Dont blame Mark Richt. He is never to blame in anything. A good man, you see. Lost seven games at UGA last season. Escapes fault for anything.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:13 pm
Word has also leaked out of Tech that Johnson has been caught frying fish out of illegal restricted waters………and when he said he had bigger fish to fry, he wasn’t joking.
These are experimental fish and grow really large. I’m been told this hot shot QB they signed from North Carolina. It’s his Daddy’s first cousin on his mama’s side. You didn’t hear from me.
AltamahaDawg
June 26th, 2011
7:15 pm
dawg4life, what exactly did you expect Auburn to do in November when that all hit the fan? He’d already played. They didn’t bluff the NCAA. We’re Not going to either. UGA handled the AJ thing perfectly and if there is any reason to suspect that Jarvis might have to serve a game suspension, I’ll be damn if I would agree to forfeit any games over it. They BETTER sit him out till it resolved if there looks like anything to it.
Had the Newton investigation been earlier in the summer you can bet your butt Auburn would have sat Cam till they knew, too. I will always believe that the SEC office and the NCAA would have suspended Cam for at least one game had it been the start of the season and not the week before the SECCG.
realizing that trashing Georgia is your own personal proof of awesomeness, but at least come up with something remotely etched in reality.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:16 pm
And Auburn is clean?…..LMAO
MarineDog
June 26th, 2011
7:18 pm
@fpice,
I’m interested in how you determined that Richt is responsible for this. The story clearly states that this happened while he was at USC. What reason would UGA have for paying for a ticket for him to go to L.A.?
Monger
June 26th, 2011
7:19 pm
Jettie, are you insane?? Have you heard (read) yourself at all??? You sound like a lunatic bro…seriously
FIRST….You say Jarvis Jones missing 5 games, will ruin our season. Yes he is a great OLB, but linebacker is one of the deepest positions for UGA, so that doesnt make sense on two levels. We are too deep, and losing an outside linebacker for 5 games, and playing the final 7, will not “ruin the season”, if he is out and even gets suspended at all (sounds like a rather petty offense to me), the person we are going to plug in will be Ray Drew, or maybe Chase Vasser, and thats going from an agressive hard hitter to another agressive hard hitter- not much of a drop. With Alec Ogeltree, Christian Robinson, Richard Samuel, and newly arrived Kent Turene manning the inside, and Cornelius Washington, Jarvis Jones, Ray Drew, and Chase Vasser on the outside-that is a very fast, very hungry linebacking core. So it wont “ruin” our season-WRONG…
2nd-PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop perpetuating these stupid “caleb king is in academic trouble” stuff. There have been soo soo many…”this guy is going to transfer” “this guy is in academic trouble”, and the majority are made up by guys in their basements with tooo much time on their hands and are often 100 percent FALSE!!! This one is-NOBODY LISTEN TO THIS CLOWN, last I heard Richt at the preseason meet and greets said he KNOWS NOTHING of any of these rumors, and that Caleb is really turning into a leader his final year, and working hard and doing great both in practice and in the CLASSROOM. FAIL….YOU FAIL AT LIFE JETTIE!!!!!
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:20 pm
MarineDog…………This guy is a hater and piling on a story…or facts he/it knows anything about.
Joe Franks
June 26th, 2011
7:21 pm
Maybe Richt ought to come back from his trip and watch his boys!
Money Talks
June 26th, 2011
7:21 pm
because he’s good, richt will find a way to keep him eligible for the big games, like his mentor, the crooked bobby bowden.
Buzz Me
June 26th, 2011
7:22 pm
is anyone really surprised. It’s the crimeDAWG way!
MS Bully
June 26th, 2011
7:22 pm
Renaldo Sydney lost a full season plus 10 games the next season at Miss. State. The NCAA always screws the Mississippi teams.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:23 pm
Money talks…… I believe Mark sat AJ before the NCAA told him to. Check it out hater.
Thomas Brown
June 26th, 2011
7:23 pm
10 players just quit the team and another 10 are injured and now, Jarvis Jones everyone said was our best LB recruited here after his strained issues at Southern Cal and now we know why that was strained out there.
Mark Richt knew all about all this, long ago.
BCS NC for us this season, obviously. We have quite a few who prefer we have a Christian head coach – send us your destitute. Send us your troubled. Brent Benedict was injured and Mark Richt said oh, yes, come on anyway. We have a roster full of these such personell decisions, and always have had with Mark Richt.
Stinger
June 26th, 2011
7:27 pm
Yeah you knew that I was coming !!! UGA should get the Death Penalty for all the violations they have committed in the past 10 years.
PJ's Saucer Nipples
June 26th, 2011
7:36 pm
Tech fans are stupid.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:37 pm
If Dawgs get the death penalty…………..I’ll risk my personal safety and go to a Tech home game and wear one of those gay yellow wigs……………………….Dream on Nerds.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:40 pm
Speaking of Tech………..This will be Johnson’s fourth year coming up. Most new hires really have their systems in by now and their own recruits. How’s the program over at the Flats looking in 2011? Most Mags I’ve read have them 4th in their division in the cupcake conference.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:42 pm
Has it really been 9 of the last 10?
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
7:43 pm
Still no proof Cam or family actually got anything…
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:44 pm
No proof needed……………Just the cloud will do………….and the cheating at Florida in class and the Lap Top incident…………Good character type guy.
tim
June 26th, 2011
7:48 pm
He is as good as done at UGA…..the NCAA will declare him ineligible without a doubt regardless of UGA’s involvement/non-involvement…the kid will be punished. and not just a game or 2
UGA '05
June 26th, 2011
7:50 pm
Stinger, Buzz me, and Boola Boola,
I thought tech fans were supposed to be smart, but obviously you guys can’t even read or comprehend anything. Richt and UGA had nothing to do with this. This all happened when Jones was at USC and he wasn’t even a thought at UGA. 9 out of 10.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
7:50 pm
Would have fit in well with your guys…
Another moron dawg fan
June 26th, 2011
7:50 pm
A big deal about nothing. Everyone knows we are the cleanest, pureset, most respected program in the country! UGA football…..31 years and counting!
GoinToAintree
June 26th, 2011
7:52 pm
Death, taxes, and lack of institutional control in Athens.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:52 pm
tim……………….And watch, the NCAA won’t let Richt know till about 24 hours before kickoff with Boise…….if Then, and then Richt will have to sit him if he doesn’t hear anything. You can’t risk playing him and have to give the win back.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:53 pm
The death part would be equal to attending a Tech game.
Larry Wayne Jones Jr.
June 26th, 2011
7:55 pm
I wasn’t aware the UGA still had a football team.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
7:55 pm
Auburn is made of rubber…
Nothing will ever come of the Cam situation… it’s over…. really.
The cloud doesn’t seem to be hurting our recruiting.
daddo
June 26th, 2011
7:56 pm
None of this matters. Yall will still suck regardless.
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:57 pm
That Tech/ Western Carolina opening game will be one big homecoming. Most of those guys were recruited by both schools. Ought to be a barn burner.
just the truth
June 26th, 2011
7:57 pm
Rules are rules. You can’t pick and choose the ones you like or disagree with. Abide by them or face the consequences !
JB
June 26th, 2011
7:58 pm
As long as the “cloud” keep raining cash, all’s good.
bigcalidawg
June 26th, 2011
7:59 pm
I guess I can pardon the non-DAWG fans posting on here.
If you are illiterate, how can your posts be based on an article you cannot read.
I forgive you.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
7:59 pm
LoL
JB
June 26th, 2011
8:01 pm
Is the media guide out for Tech yet? Will it be Pizza of hot dogs this year to try and fill the stands?
DAWG ONE
June 26th, 2011
8:02 pm
The NCAA should not have anything to do with Caldwell-Pope’s mother or him. This happened long before he signed with UGA. The NCAA, if they get involved, would be like a gestapo. This is not their business with C-P and has nothing to do with UGA.
I am disappointed in you, Chip, by not taking a stand and a shot at the NCAA.
JB
June 26th, 2011
8:05 pm
Gator fan on here talking trash. Rich. I remember when they were good. Way back when Tebow was there and a full time committed coach. Last year was ugly. So was Brantley. Hard to watch. Lost 5 I believe. Maybe i read that wrong. Any Gators on here to verify those 5 loses?
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
8:05 pm
Tech games are sloop lame…
Never been heckled by opposing fans in Spock ears before.
JB
June 26th, 2011
8:08 pm
Sandman………………25,000 future I.T. guys howling in yellow wigs is pretty funny.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
8:09 pm
No… I think we (Auburn) set the record this year.
on a mission
June 26th, 2011
8:10 pm
richt be cleaning up everything when he get back from his mission—he got free pub and want his people to know—now don’t be botherin him with more player payoffs–he be tired from the missionary work and need to unwind at his mansion.
KeepCalmAndCarryOn
June 26th, 2011
8:12 pm
If you’re going to fill your rosters with felons year in and year out (worthy of the venerable Fulmer Cup), whilst surrendering any institutional dignity by operating a football factory, one would expect to exhibit some iota of national relevance.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
8:14 pm
This story has nothing to do with UGA or the coaches.
This is what kids did I’m high school.
Sandman
June 26th, 2011
8:15 pm
This story has nothing to do with UGA or the coaches.
This is about what kids did in high school.
lcheatherly
June 26th, 2011
8:19 pm
as far as UGA’s complicity is concerned, the question may be whether or not the “Parks Director and one of his associates” are considered UGA boosters? For these two persons, there may be criminal questions as to the fund source of the expenditures.
ryan
June 26th, 2011
8:19 pm
You want to talk about school that is trouble UNC is in much worst shape then everyone else also there players has 317 parking tickets that goes beyond the Fulmer Cup .