Rucker Arrest Story

[Brett Vito]

Denton Record-Chronicle

[stebo]

Umm, is arresting him really neccesary? For $400 bucks??? Come on parents, the kid admitted it and I am sure he would have paid it back. I do not consider this a crime, I consider this as a very young guy (freshman) making a stupid mistake. There really was no reason to arrest him for this.

Edited November 21, 2008 by stebo

[SilverEagle]

All I can say is that if I were one of the employees of the Athletic department in charge of getting donations for the stadium, I've be sitting at my desk right now doing a face palm....with both hands.

[FirefightnRick]

Umm, is arresting him really neccesary? For $400 bucks??? Come on parents, the kid admitted it and I am sure he would have paid it back. I do not consider this a crime, I consider this as a very young guy (freshman) making a stupid mistake. There really was no reason to arrest him for this.

What???????????? $400 dollars is a lot to a college student, then even worse that there's interest to be paid from the amount charged from a credit card. This wasn't a one time deal, it happend over a period of a month.

Oh, MedPilot, MedPilot, MedPilot!!!!!!!!!!!

Rick

[KRAM1]

I cannot belive anyone would defend this type of action with an indication that it wasn't a crime! Stebo, you have to be kidding me...tell me you are. Perhaps with the arrest the kid will think long and hard about pulling this CRIME again...or any crime for that matter. Sometimes a bit of "tough love" at the onset prevents much bigger problems in the future. Athletes tend to "get away" with this type of crime and some seem to follow the logic that if they just say they are sorry it will be fine...gee, why not?

Shoplifting is a serious crime and it amounts to millions of dollars in losses to retain businesses annually. As such, it drives the price of everything up for everyone else who actually pay for the items they remove from a store.

I hope Rucker learns his lesson...I hope he is allowed to earn his way back on the team, but he should be suspended until he figures out that this was far more than a "stupid act" by a yong person....

I am simply sick of this crap! And those who make excuses and write off this type of behavior as "no big deal" do need to think about it a bit more and really look into why they think it is not a problem.

Perhaps it was said in jest or with tounge in cheek here, I do hope so, but, if not here, there are probably many other folks who feel the same way about this type of crime. Too bad!

[saysojoe]

I'm sick of these "PUNKS" doing this stuff on all our MEAN GREEN DONORS DIME !!!!!!!!

CUT him loose and give the scholly to some of the kids that are doing what every it takes to play football.

I will be there on the 29th !!!!!

[NT80]

If he makes these kind of off-field decisions I have doubts about his on-field decision making abilities. This is another reason stores should require photo IDs with use of a credit card.

[meangreen-mba]

cut him. We need character more than ever on this team. end of story

[Guest JohnDenver]

I don't think Stebo was saying to let it slide..

I think he was saying that if it were his friend, and I am assuming he did this to a friend, that he would have let his friend pay off the credit card and then cut off ties. Felonies are serious matters. 18 is still very young. Hard to recover from the "Check her if you have been convicted of a felony on applications."

I assume it is his friend's card because he was one of four people with access to the room and he would text message this person.

In college, at such a young age myself, I am not sure I would have thrown my friend to the wolves. I would have let them correct it, learned to keep my card safe, and severed all ties with said person.

If it is was a stranger, then hell, cops would have been called without pause.

[Will to Win]

I cannot belive anyone would defend this type of action with an indication that it wasn't a crime! Stebo, you have to be kidding me...tell me you are. Perhaps with the arrest the kid will think long and hard about pulling this CRIME again...or any crime for that matter. Sometimes a bit of "tough love" at the onset prevents much bigger problems in the future. Athletes tend to "get away" with this type of crime and some seem to follow the logic that if they just say they are sorry it will be fine...gee, why not?

Shoplifting is a serious crime and it amounts to millions of dollars in losses to retain businesses annually. As such, it drives the price of everything up for everyone else who actually pay for the items they remove from a store.

I hope Rucker learns his lesson...I hope he is allowed to earn his way back on the team, but he should be suspended until he figures out that this was far more than a "stupid act" by a yong person....

I am simply sick of this crap! And those who make excuses and write off this type of behavior as "no big deal" do need to think about it a bit more and really look into why they think it is not a problem.

Perhaps it was said in jest or with tounge in cheek here, I do hope so, but, if not here, there are probably many other folks who feel the same way about this type of crime. Too bad!

We are not defending the action but simply stating that everyone screws at some time. Nobody is perfect and if you are "Mr. Perfect" then I tip my hat to you because you are truly a rare breed.

Yes, its disappointing but I understand mistakes (stupid) mistakes will be made by everyone at some point in your life and the key is not to repeat those mistakes.

The fact that he admitted to the alleged crime says a lot about him. He could of denied till blue in the face ( a tactic I used when I was younger) but he chose the high road.

I hope this embarrassment will wake his AS* up and get his shi* squared away.

[Quoner]

Can we still do the "charge" cheer at games?

[Travis]

I don't think Stebo was saying to let it slide..

I think he was saying that if it were his friend, and I am assuming he did this to a friend, that he would have let his friend pay off the credit card and then cut off ties. Felonies are serious matters. 18 is still very young. Hard to recover from the "Check her if you have been convicted of a felony on applications."

I assume it is his friend's card because he was one of four people with access to the room and he would text message this person.

In college, at such a young age myself, I am not sure I would have thrown my friend to the wolves. I would have let them correct it, learned to keep my card safe, and severed all ties with said person.

If it is was a stranger, then hell, cops would have been called without pause.

I have a hard time believing a "friend" would do all of those things.

[Green Lantern]

Can we still do the "charge" cheer at games?

This got a giggle out of me.

[Travis]

We are not defending the action but simply stating that everyone screws at some time. Nobody is perfect and if you are "Mr. Perfect" then I tip my hat to you because you are truly a rare breed.

Yes, its disappointing but I understand mistakes (stupid) mistakes will be made by everyone at some point in your life and the key is not to repeat those mistakes.

The fact that he admitted to the alleged crime says a lot about him. He could of denied till blue in the face ( a tactic I used when I was younger) but he chose the high road.

I hope this embarrassment will wake his AS* up and get his shi* squared away.

We don't really know all the facts with this. In my job, i have had people deny to my face they violated a rule and then I show video of them doing it and then they come clean... They even used that "coming clean" as a reason for how responsible they are being. Truth is they only did it because it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So long as that doubt remained that individual wasn't backing down. I am not saying it was the case here but perhaps there was no getting out of this one.

I believe the best way to learn from your mistake is to learn through consequence.

[stebo]

I don't think Stebo was saying to let it slide..

I think he was saying that if it were his friend, and I am assuming he did this to a friend, that he would have let his friend pay off the credit card and then cut off ties. Felonies are serious matters. 18 is still very young. Hard to recover from the "Check her if you have been convicted of a felony on applications."

I assume it is his friend's card because he was one of four people with access to the room and he would text message this person.

In college, at such a young age myself, I am not sure I would have thrown my friend to the wolves. I would have let them correct it, learned to keep my card safe, and severed all ties with said person.

If it is was a stranger, then hell, cops would have been called without pause.

Thank you Chad, that is EXACTLY what I was saying. It was 26 times because they were vending machine purchases that generally are about $2 bucks each along with something at the mall. I hire people and I would hate for someone to get denied a job for a STUPID STUPID STUPID mistake that he made in college. They were friends, he didn't steal it out of the mail - he took it from a friend. Look at the details, the girl's parents just asked her to cut back on her spending - so she probably used it for these same things and maybe she even told him it was ok once or twice to get a soft drink or some chips and he went overboard by sneaking it a whole bunch more.

I am not saying that he should just "get away with it" - what I was saying was that it is less than $400 bucks and I don't really think that a felony arrest is needed for a dorm room vending machine debacle. God, do none of you remember age 18? People make mistakes, felonies stay on yuour record the rest of your life. This was overkill. The kid had texted the girl several times apologizing, the parents could have surely worked something out with getting the money back and even if they didn't, I wouldn't ruin someone's life for $400 bucks.

[Will to Win]

We don't really know all the facts with this. In my job, i have had people deny to my face they violated a rule and then I show video of them doing it and then they come clean... They even used that "coming clean" as a reason for how responsible they are being. Truth is they only did it because it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So long as that doubt remained that individual wasn't backing down. I am not saying it was the case here but perhaps there was no getting out of this one.

I believe the best way to learn from your mistake is to learn through consequence.

Agreed!

You certainly learn by getting stung! It's part of the process.

[mad dog]

Yeah... I was suprised at the felony label. Not "knock me down" surprised, but just a little bit.

Felonies are things like aggravated assault, arson, illegal drug sales, treason, espionage, racketeering, robbery, murder, rape, kidnapping and fraud. Somehow, this just doesn't seem like the same thing.

That said, it was a dumb, dumb thing to do, and he should be held accountable for his actions.

[Quoner]

Yeah... I was suprised at the felony label. Not "knock me down" surprised, but just a little bit.

Felonies are things like aggravated assault, arson, illegal drug sales, treason, espionage, racketeering, robbery, murder, rape, kidnapping and fraud. Somehow, this just doesn't seem like the same thing.

That said, it was a dumb, dumb thing to do, and he should be held accountable for his actions.

How long until the whole team has mandatory credit report checks?

[mad dog]

How long until the whole team has mandatory credit report checks?

42.

[foutsrouts]

Certainly not going to defend the guy because he's an admitted thief and should have to pay for his crimes, but I'm not too sure that the amount of money involved should be worthy of a felony. Probably one of the things that I think the legislature screwed up a few years ago when they created the "State Jail Felony" thing. Seems like they reduced some felonies to misdemeanors and raised some misdemeanors to felonies. I knew of a guy when I was in school who was charged with felony car burglary when he reached through an open window of a car in a bar parking lot and grabbed a half empty pack of cigarettes off of the dashboard. Anyway, I doubt very much that Rucker will end up with a felony conviction from this. I hope he learns his lesson.

[aztecskin]

I really think you have to look at the situation here. I know when I use my card to buy little things here and there, its easy to forget how much you spent. Now take this dude here, he certainly didn't keep a log of how many times he used it. It adds up pretty quick, next thing you know its 400 bucks. Yes, I know its wrong. Yes, it was an a-hole thing to do to your friend, BUT, it should have first been handled between friends, THEN if nothing could be done, you go to police.

Especially since it was just money. Money can always be paid back. He didn't do anything un-fixable. There is a huge difference between taking advantage of your friends kindness, and robbery. Maybe not on paper or legally, but in real life.

You would be way more lenient with your friends than with a stranger. I think the dude should pay her back plus interest, and apologize.

[Travis]

Especially since it was just money. Money can always be paid back. He didn't do anything un-fixable. There is a huge difference between taking advantage of your friends kindness, and robbery. Maybe not on paper or legally, but in real life.

I am not sure I can call a person a friend who does this to you.

[greenminer]

This got a giggle out of me.

IRDTSTTPR**

[UNT90]

Certainly not going to defend the guy because he's an admitted thief and should have to pay for his crimes, but I'm not too sure that the amount of money involved should be worthy of a felony. Probably one of the things that I think the legislature screwed up a few years ago when they created the "State Jail Felony" thing. Seems like they reduced some felonies to misdemeanors and raised some misdemeanors to felonies. I knew of a guy when I was in school who was charged with felony car burglary when he reached through an open window of a car in a bar parking lot and grabbed a half empty pack of cigarettes off of the dashboard. Anyway, I doubt very much that Rucker will end up with a felony conviction from this. I hope he learns his lesson.

As someone with some familiarity with the process, what will probably happen is Rucker will be given Deferred Adjudication, assuming his juvy record is clean and dependant on re-payment to the credit card company. Simplified, Deferred Adjudication means he will do a time period under probation-like conditions. At the end of this period, assuming he has met all the requirements of the court and has kept his nose clean, the charge against him will be dismissed. No felony conviction, no felony record. All the rights of regular citizens (jury service, etc..).

The victim in these cases are the financial institutions, not the card holders, due to the fact that the financial institutions reimburse the card holder for the stolen amount of goods once they receive a police report from the card holder (probably the parents, by the way). So once the offense is reported, the financial institution becomes the victim and only they have the right to drop the charges.

BUT, this is what normally happens in a larger county. Don't know about Denton County (reference the deferred adj. only).

Edited November 21, 2008 by UNT90

[aztecskin]

I am not sure I can call a person a friend who does this to you.

True, but a friend would also forgive. It depends on their relationship. Still though, it is not so horrific that it cannot be corrected. It is just money. It can be replaced.