Just over two weeks removed from a heartbreaking loss in the NCAA Tournament, Florida's basketball team has a new problem on its hands: As first tweeted by Gator Country's Thomas Goldkamp, Erik Murphy and Cody Larson were arrested and charged with burglary on Saturday night.
Working on a breaking story. Cody Larson and Erik Murphy were arrested last night and charged with burglary. More details coming.
Jacksonville's WJXT was first to report the arrests, and notes that Murphy and Larson face felony burglary charges.
Investigators said Larson and Murphy went into Scarlett O'Hara's Bar and Restaurant around 2 a.m. Sunday and claimed to have lost a wallet. They said the men tried to get close to an employee who was counting money from the night.
Bouncers then told Larson and Murphy to leave and a few minutes later, they saw the men breaking into a co-worker's car in a parking lot across the street, according to police.
Police said the victim did not notice any missing items from the car.
Murphy is a sophomore from Rhode Island who has played sparingly as a frontcourt reserve in his first two seasons as a Gator. Larson, a freshman who redshirted in the 2010-11 season, is from South Dakota, and came to Gainesville with character questions stemming from a criminal record and alleged flouting of a high school drug policy.
Larson received two years of probation and a suspended 120-day jail sentence for a misdemeanor drug charge related to being in the same room with drugs in 2010. Larson told the Sioux Falls, S.D. Argus Leader it was "the biggest lesson of my life" last May.
While we're far from knowing all the facts of this story, and it should be stressed that accusations, arrests, and charges are not convictions, reportedly being arrested for burglary less than a year after being sentenced to probation at least suggests Larson may not have learned much from that lesson.
Alligator Army will have more details as the story develops. At the moment, it's hard not to be disappointed in both Murphy and Larson for even doing enough to get arrested. Fun story to start a tenure with, huh?