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Nine suspended Florida Gators learned the next step of their legal fate on Monday, as sworn complaints against them were filed with the Alachua County Clerk of Courts.
Those nine Gators could face dozens of felony charges for a variety of alleged credit card frauds — though freshman offensive lineman Kadeem Telfort’s potential 30 charges and freshman defensive end Jordan Smith’s at least 17 charges would account for the lion’s share of that maxed-out number. And they are now more likely than ever to remain suspended for at least the forseeable future, thanks to University of Florida policy banning students facing felony charges from participating in student activities — like, say, football.
But what those players are actually accused of having done — which had been murky for more than a month, with various reports suggesting differing degrees and means of fraud perpetrated against the university or its bookstore or others — is now a matter of public record, as those sworn complaints have been filed.
Below, in 10 PDFs hosted at Scribd and available for download, you can read those complaints, taken from the Alachua County Clerk of Courts website on September 25. They have been only lightly redacted, and include identifying details of both the Florida players and of alleged victims of the frauds, so I strongly encourage you not to focus on those details, but instead the narrative reports that explain what the players in question are alleged to have done.
I haven’t read all of these reports in full, but will over the next few hours — and will add some thoughts in the comments or a separate post when I do.
Antonio Callaway
Keivonnis Davis
Richerd Desir-Jones
James Houston
Ventrell Miller
Jordan Scarlett
Jordan Smith
Kadeem Telfort
Rick Wells
Notes
Individuals who are not alleged to have committed crimes are represented by initials.
- The origin of these investigations into potential fraud is an August 15 meeting between a UFPD officer and a pair of UF Bookstore employees. During that interaction, the employees told the officer that a number of students were transferring unusually large sums into their UF Bookstore accounts, and that the Bookstore had received several “chargeback” disputes of the payment methods for those transfers in relation to accounts belonging to S.F., determined to be Jordan Scarlett’s girlfriend, and Jordan Smith. This sparked an investigation into the matter that found similar transactions on the accounts of the eight other players mentioned.
- One of the bookstore employees told UFPD that because the other employee recognized the names involved as those of athletes, he reported the matter to the University Athletics Association prior to reporting it to UFPD.
- One of the bookstore employees also told UFPD that some of the students mentioned that they had sold the items.
- Narrative of allegations against Callaway: Added $1,970 to his UF Bookstore account on July 16 via online transfer from credit card belonging to a J.S. (same as Scarlett); on July 17, purchased MacBook Pro and Beats headphones from UF Bookstore with $1,970 from account and $60 cash; paid $2,000 in cash to Bookstore on August 8 to settle account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Davis: Added $1,600 in two separate transactions of $800 five minutes apart to his UF Bookstore account on July 28 via online transfers from credit card belonging to W.B.; less than an hour later, on July 28, purchased MacBook Pro, Beats headphones, and BoomStream Bluetooth speaker for $1,330.20; paid $20 on MasterCard to Bookstore on August 8 to partially settle account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card (two counts), fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Desir-Jones: Added $1,970 to his UF Bookstore account on July 21 via online transfer from credit card belonging to K.B. (same as Miller); less than an hour later, on July 21, purchased MacBook Pro and Beats headphones at UF Bookstore for $1,829.67; paid $1,829.67 to Bookstore on August 11 to settle account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Houston: Added $550 to his UF Bookstore account on July 21 via online transfer from credit card belonging to P.B. (same as Telfort); less than an hour later, on July 21, purchased iPad at UF Bookstore for $424.94; paid $424.94 to Bookstore on August 11 to settle account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Miller: Added $1,970 to his UF Bookstore account on July 21 via online transfer from credit card belonging to K.B. (same as Desir-Jones); less than an hour later, on July 21, purchased MacBook Pro and Beats headphones at UF Bookstore for $1,330.19; paid $1,330.10 to Bookstore with $500 cash and $830.19 in check on August 11 to settle account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Scarlett: Added $1,940 to the UF Bookstore account of S.F., his girlfriend, on July 23 via online transfer from credit card belonging to G.R., and saved credit card number belonging to J.S. (same as Callaway) for future use; on July 26, purchased MacBook Pro and Beats headphones at UF Bookstore for $1,809.44, but only received headphones, as laptop is not in stock and must be shipped; S.F. returned headphones at time indeterminate; S.F. came to UFPD on August 23, and told UFPD officer: a) she was not aware the money on her account was stolen, b) she was told by Scarlett that there was money on her Bookstore account — from, per S.F., an agent in New York — and c) she had accompanied him to the Bookstore to purchase laptop on July 26; Scarlett came to UFPD on August 30, and told UFPD officer: a) the money was coming from an agent in New York, b) Smith added the money to S.F.’s account without S.F. present, c) S.F.’s account was used because i) Scarlett did not want to get in trouble and ii) uses her laptop often, and d) that he made a mistake because he thought he could get away with it. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Smith: Added $1,970 to his UF Bookstore account on July 18 via online transfer from credit card belonging to M.R.; just 25 minutes later, on July 18, purchased MacBook Pro and Beats headphones at UF Bookstore for $1,809.44; seven attempts to add amounts ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 to Smith’s account between July 24 and 4:33 p.m. on July 28 were declined; added $800 to UF Bookstore account at 5:14 p.m. on July 28 via online transfer from credit card belonging to T.Y.; at 5:17 p.m. on July 28, another attempt to add $800 to Smith’s account was declined; added $800 to UF Bookstore account on July 31 via online transfer from credit card belonging to A.V.; in separate transactions minutes apart on August 1, purchased MacBook Air, Beats headphones, and BoomStream Bluetooth speaker for $1,117.20 and three pairs of Beats headphones for $346.05 from UF Bookstore; added $940 and $510 to his UF Parking and Transportation account on August 2 via separate online transfers from credit card belonging to B.K., apparently paying an outstanding balance with UF Parking and Transportation by doing so; used the credit card of A.V. to “zero out” his sublease account at The Woodlands apartment complex at some point in August, as revealed by August 17 report from manager of complex, which will result in a separate Gainesville Police Department complaint. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card (13 counts), fraudulent use of identity (four counts, with eight victims still unidentified), and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Telfort from complaint No. 1 (UF Bookstore): Three attempts to add $500, $500, and $650 to Telfort’s UF Bookstore account on June 26 were declined; added $650 to his UF Bookstore account on June 26 via online transfer from credit card belonging to S.N.; purchased iPad for $424.94 from UF Bookstore on June 27; added $500 to his UF Bookstore account on July 1 via online transfer from credit card belonging to M.S.; purchased iPad Mini (with AppleCare) for $509.07 from UF Bookstore on July 1; returned iPad and received $478 as store credit on July 5; purchased three PlayStation gift cards totaling $150 from UF Bookstore on July 5; purchased iPad for $424.94 from UF Bookstore on July 5; purchased two unspecified gift cards totaling $100 from UF Bookstore on July 5; added $300 to his UF Bookstore account on July 5 via online transfer from credit card belonging to P.B. (same as Houston); paid $300 to Bookstore online on August 8 and $700 to Bookstore in person via check on August 14, not sufficient to settle his account. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card (six counts), fraudulent use of identity (six counts), and scheme to defraud.
- Narrative of allegations against Telfort from complaint No. 2 (352 Delivery): Telfort used several credit cards to purchase and attempt to purchase food through Gainesville-based food delivery service 352 Delivery from July 10 to July 22: $21.56 for an order from Relish on July 10 via a credit card belonging to A.C. went through despite Telfort listing the city for the billing address for the card as Gainesville; four separate attempts to pay $23.35 for an order from Sonic on July 17 using numbers from credit cards belonging to A.C., M.R. (same as Smith), an unknown person, D.K. or J.K. failed because the addresses used for the transaction were incorrectly filled out before a fifth attempt, again using M.R.’s card, was processed despite Telfort listing the city for the billing address for the card as Gainesville; $17.40 for an order of sundries — Gatorade, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, two bags of Gummi Worms, and Icebreakers Duo gum/mints — on July 20 via a credit card belonging to a separate J.K. than the one listed above went through despite Telfort listing the city for the billing address for the card as Gainesville; three separate attempts to pay various amounts on July 22 using numbers from credit cards belonging to the latter J.K., M.R. (same as Smith), M.C., and an unknown person, D.K. or J.K. failed because the addresses used for the transaction were incorrectly filled out before a fourth attempt, again using the latter J.K..’s card, was processed despite Telfort listing the city for the billing address for the card as Gainesville, that order of $22.82 consisting again of sundries — Chester’s Hot Fries, Funyuns, Gatorade, Sour Patch Kids, and a bag of Gummi Worms; in all, the owner of 352 Delivery told UFPD he suffered a total loss of $89.48. Could face charges of illegal use of credit cards (12 counts), fraudulently using a person’s identification without consent (seven counts), and four counts of “uttering a forged instrument” — for forging the signatures of the payees on the four completed orders.
- Narrative of allegations against Wells: Added $875 to UF Bookstore account on June 30 via online transfer from card belonging to M.S. (likely same as Telfort); purchased two iPads for $849.87 from UF Bookstore on June 30; Wells came to UFPD on August 22 and a) claimed girlfriend K.M. added money to his UF Bookstore account and b) that he was not involved in any fraud, c) showed a text message from the Bookstore about a mix-up on the Bookstore’s end, and d) agreed to bring his iPad to UFPD, which he ultimately did not do, providing pictures via text instead; K.M. spoke to UFPD via phone on August 28 and claimed she had used her own credit card to add money to Wells’s account on June 28. Could face charges of fraudulent use of credit card, fraudulent use of identity, and scheme to defraud.