UCF Scandal

In our break from the Plancher cover-up we continue our look at shining examples of the UCF football program. This time it’s poster boy for the UCF Home Invasion Task Force, Charles Lee.

From the archives (December 6, 2007):

Former UCF Football Star Charged In Home Invasion

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — From running to the end zone to running from the law, a man considered one of the University of Central Florida’s greatest football players was arrested at his alma mater Wednesday night. Charles Lee, Jr. also played for the Orlando Predators and earned a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Lee was a standout wide receiver. Now he’s in jail accused of stealing $11,000 in a home invasion robbery.The Pegasus Landing Apartments near UCF is just one of the student apartment complexes plagued by robberies and burglaries this semester. Word that a former student and star athlete may be behind some of the crime is both a shock and a relief.There were many touchdowns during the glory days of college for Charles Lee, but Thursday a very different kind of notoriety became part of Lee’s resume. A judge denied bond to the former receiver after his arrest for a home invasion at the Pegasus Landing Apartments.Students are shocked.”To have such a resume like that. You just downgraded yourself. So I wouldn’t be surprised. I think the police did what they had to do,” said student BJ Johnson.Just a few years ago, Lee was a media star, even earning a Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just four years ago.

Now, UCF police are trying to figure out how many crimes Lee is connected to.

“One guy was holding me down with his foot, gun to the back of my head. The other guy was going through my drawers and my closet and if I didn’t tell him where my valuables were he would kill me,” robbery victim Nicholas Rind told Eyewitness News in November.Now police will are trying to solve more crimes with Lee behind bars. More charges and arrests may be to come.”It’s a good thing that they caught him, definitely,” said student Mike Willey.

Before his arrest Wednesday night, things seemed to be going downhill for Lee. He’d lost his spot with the Orlando Predators in April and been convicted and sentenced for robbery in June. He also auctioned off his Super Bowl ring just three years after he earned it.Eyewitness News requested an interview with Lee on Thursday. Jail officials said he declined with some very colorful language.

View the entire story at WFTV.com

Yes, it’s been too much on the readers, I see the complaints. We need to cover more than just current scandals and controversies. While I take this Plancher situation very seriously, we can take a respite from it and look at other great moments in UCF history. Without further ado, we knock the dust off the archives and hopefully lighten the mood around here a bit:

From the archives (12/10/05):

Charges filed against former UCF quarterback Culpepper

Jeff Baenen

MINNEAPOLIS - Quarterback Daunte Culpepper and three Minnesota Vikings teammates were charged Thursday with indecent, lewd and disorderly conduct for participating in a bawdy boat party that drew national attention.

Culpepper, a former star quarterback at UCF who is currently on injured reserve, Bryant McKinnie, Fred Smoot and Moe Williams each were charged with three misdemeanors for their behavior aboard a boat on Lake Minnetonka, according to court papers.

If convicted, each player faces up to a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine for each count.

“The night of the incident, there was no shortage of inappropriate behavior on both boats,” Hennepin County Sheriff Pat McGowan said.

Prosecutor Steve Tallen charged the players based on an investigation by McGowan’s office, which reviewed allegations of lewd and drunken behavior aboard two craft chartered for the outing on Oct. 6.

Crew members complained that some people took off their clothes and engaged in public sex acts during the cruise, according to Stephen Doyle, an attorney representing the boats’ owners, Al & Alma’s Supper Club and Charter Cruises in Mound, Minn.

…Read the entire account at the Central Florida Future.

To follow up the previous post (originally posted on UCFScandal.com in January):

Hard lessons for former UCF receiver Brandon Marshall

Alan Schmadtke|Sentinel Staff Writer

September 22, 2007

Excerpt regarding former UCF reciever Marshall:

Denver’s season is only two games old, but 2007 already has been a year Marshall never will forget.

A season-ending New Year’s party turned tragic, and Marshall found himself in the middle of it. At closing time in a downtown Denver club, Marshall and his cousin argued with two men who earlier had been asked to leave the club, Broncos receiver Javon Walker recently told HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

Witnesses later told police the two men flashed gang signs and accosted Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams. Later, Williams was killed in a limousine after a drive-by shooting. He died in Walker’s arms.

The unidentified suspects are at large. Police are investigating.

“It’s sad that HBO will broadcast something like that and the case hasn’t even gone to trial yet,” said Marshall, who declined to discuss details of that evening. “It’s a lot of he-said, she-said. I was asked to do the HBO interview, but I felt there was nothing for me to say.

Marshall was arrested in March on domestic violence and false imprisonment charges in a dispute with a girlfriend. He blocked her taxi cab’s exit with his car.

The summer before Marshall’s senior season at UCF, he was cited for driving with a suspended license. He left Orlando for a summer semester and went to Fort Lauderdale to work out and clear his head.

More from ESPN

Everywhere they look, Broncos see reminders Darrent Williams

In an interview on “Real Sports” that opened fresh wounds and maybe even a can of worms, Walker revealed that teammate Brandon Marshall was at the center of an argument that occurred during a New Year’s Eve party at a downtown Denver club.

Walker said that at closing time, Marshall and his cousin exchanged heated words with two men who had been kicked out of the club earlier that night. Witnesses said the men flashed gang signs and confronted Williams and his group after taking offense when Marshall sprayed them with champagne.

After both men tried to intervene, Walker was invited into Williams’ limo and they drove off into the night. Moments later, their stretch Hummer was sprayed with bullets, one of which pierced Williams’ neck.

Marshall, who had left the club in another vehicle, declined to comment on what Walker told HBO.

UCFScandal.com Report
first in a series that details UCF players’ ongoing criminal acts

The Brandon Marshall file:

Marshall experienced legal run-ins while a student at UCF. According to Orange County Orlando public records (case 48-2004-MM-012392-O), on Halloween of 2004 Marshall was arrested in Orlando on numerous charges, including assault on a law enforcement officer, refusal to obey, disorderly conduct, and resisting an office. Marshall’s arrest record can be viewed on the Orange County Clerk’s site. Arrests did not hinder the wide receiver. Despite being a known threat to fellow students, Marshall played in 10 games for the Knights that season.

In early 2006, Marshall was selected in the NFL Draft. But like many other UCF athletes, trouble seemed to find him in any state. In Marshall’s short tenure with the Denver Bronco’s his career has been sullied, but like his UCF career - unharmed, with these numerous incidences.

On January 1, 2007, Brandon Marshall was among a party of individuals that included the late Bronco’s player Darent Williams. Marshall was alleged to have been involved in altercation with the alleged gunmen that ultimately led to the gun play that killed teammate Williams.

In May, 2007 Prosecutors charged Marshall with domestic abuse charges and false imprisonment charges after an incident with his girlfriend in March. A police report said the woman told investigators that Marshall blocked her attempt to leave his home by blocking her taxi with his car. Then, Marshall jumped out his car and ran to the taxi’s passenger window, punching it and calling the woman names. An Arapahoe County District Attorney’s spokesperson said the charges were dropped after Marshall completed anger management classes. Marshall’s response after the charges were dropped? “For my career to go through what it went through, and my character and personality taking a hit over something that basically wasn’t valid, was an eye-opener to the high profile that (I have as an athlete).” Message not received by one Mr. Marshall.

October, 2007: Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall was cited for driving under the influence after he was spotted driving “erratically” early Monday, a Denver police spokesman said. Marshall was taken to a detox center and later pleaded “not guilty”.

Trend?

It’s seems clear in this brief report on Brandon Marshsall’s crime record as an adult, that he clearly does have problems with anger and self-control. A problem that dated back to his playing days at UCF. Had appropriate action been taken against the incorrigible Marshall, could he have stood a better chance to be an upstanding citizen? It’s nearly impossible to tell. UCF fans tell me for every Brandon Marshall they run through UCF, there are a couple that turn out alright.

Still, Marshall is honored on the Official UCF Athletics site as one of their very own UCF Players in the Pros.

On the other side, Bronco’s owner Pat Bowlen has a far less lenient view on things “I’ve never had a lot of tolerance for stuff like that, especially in this community because it really has a significant impact … I don’t like it at all,” he said. “You have to realize when you come in here or as a rookie drafted out of college that’s the environment here. I can understand young guys making mistakes, but once you’re around long enough you should get a clue here and conduct your personal life in a way that’s not going to end up on some police blotter somewhere.”

For UCF perhaps, that blind eye always works best in these kind of cases.