UA athletes arrested in textbook scandal

Arizona Daily Wildcat Mikal Smith (left) and Leland Gayles

Two UA football players were suspended indefinitely Monday by the athletic department after their arrest last week in an alleged textbook scam.

UA starting safety Mikal Smith, 20, and reserve cornerback Leland Gayles, 20, were arrested June 11 after police discovered the two athletes attempting to sell illegally obtained books to the Arizona Bookstore, 815 N. Park Ave.

"Every day we are obtaining more evidence to support the idea that this not an isolated incident but a fraud scheme," said Sgt. Sal Celi of the University of Arizona Police Department.

Outside the bookstore, police found 67 textbooks in the trunk of Gayles' car. Where Gayles and Smith obtained the books is yet to be determined, but authorities hope that names found inside some of the books will help further the investigation.

Smith and Gayles each face one felony count of fraud, and Gayles faces an additional charge of giving false information to a police officer.

Smith and Gayles refused to comment on the matter.

The athletic department provides books for all full-scholarship athletes at the beginning of each semester. It also issues book vouchers to student athletes when they add a class after the start of a semester.

All books are property of the athletic department and must be returned to the department at the end of each semester.

The ongoing investigation started six weeks ago when bookstore employees became suspicious after a customer sold the same book back to the store twice in two days.

The books were purchased with athletic department vouchers and sold back to the store later for 50 percent of their value, the going rate without a receipt, Celi said.

The act of selling books in itself is not illegal; however, selling athletic department books, or stolen books, is illegal, Celi said.

He said police are inquiring into where and how the books were obtained and the number of people who may have been lured into the scam.

"Very possibly there may have been other players or acquaintances of Mikal (Smith) who were duped into this," he said. "But the foundation of the investigation has a big gap in it."

Celi said police linked six names to the scam, but bookstore employees have only described two suspects. This has led authorities to suspect that the same persons may have repeatedly sold books back to the store using false identification, Celi said.

Police did not know how many books may have been stolen or illegally purchased.

Celi said he would like to work with the appropriate university authorities to find ways to prevent similar book scams in the future.

This is not the first time UA athletes have been accused of illegally selling books.

Last June, football player Ronald Holmes, a former student, was linked to suspicious book-selling activity that occurred between May 22 and June 14 at the UA Bookstore, Celi said.

Holmes denied that he was the person seen at the buy back counter, claiming someone who looked similar to him had used his identification and forged his name to sell the books.

But a hand writing sample, analyzed by the Tucson Police Department crime lab, tied Holmes to at least one book that was sold to the buy back counter. He was charged with misdemeanor theft in that incident Celi said.

Five years ago a UA women's basketball player, Shawn Coder, admitted to stealing engineering books valued at $716. Coder was arrested and suspended from the team.

The NCAA did not penalize the UA athletic department for either incident.

Likewise, UA attorney Michael Proctor, said he did not believe the latest scam would warrant any action from the governing body of college athletics.

Proctor said the athletic department is conducting its own investigation into the allegations but will continue to cooperate with police.

"We (the university administration) don't want to fog up their investigation," Proctor said.

He said all the facts would have to be gathered and evaluated before considering any changes in the system.

Aside from the recent incidents, athletic department officials believe that the current system for distributing books to athletes is a good one.

David Murray, track and field head coach, said the system, in which the bookstore sends over a book bag for each student based on their class schedule, has been an excellent way to provide the books.

"The system is a good one, but like anything else in life, it could have loop holes in it," Murray said.

Arizona men's basketball coach Lute Olson agreed that the current system has functioned adequately.

"From what I've seen, they have a pretty tight control on the books, and someone would have to work fairly hard to take advantage of it," Olson said. "Fortunately, none of our guys have tried to do that."