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Ungagged UA player claims innocence

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Clay Hardt, UA football freshman safety

UA head football coach Dick Tomey last night lifted a gag order on freshman safety Clay Hardt, allowing the athlete to deny involvement in a reported theft case and add that he did not witness any misconduct among his teammates.

But Tomey remained silent regarding which players listed as "investigative leads" were or were not involved in the reported theft of $20 from a CatCard office employee.

However, Tomey last night confirmed to the Arizona Daily Wildcat that the list of athletes under investigation - released Tuesday by university police - included some players who were not guilty of any wrongdoing.

At a Tuesday press conference, Tomey responded to the allegations by saying "I know what happened. It's a dumb thing - dumb." He added, "we have duly reamed those guys out, and they know how we feel about it."

Hardt was the first student athlete named who has spoken out about the incident, which reportedly occurred last Thursday in the Memorial Student Union.

All University of Arizona football players were placed under a gag order shortly after Tomey was informed of the temporary employee's accusation.

When the story about the theft was made public, Hardt said, "All the players I talked to were blown away by (the employee's statement)."

"We've been drilled from day one from coach Tomey and everyone (has been saying): 'Don't just be a football player, be a good person, be a person people look up to,'" Hardt said.

When the story came out, the team wasn't affected by the incident but many of the older players felt the freshmen had let them down, Hardt said.

"They were very disappointed when they saw that because they've been working and working and working on having a good image and show the university 'yeah, we're athletes but we don't want special treatment," Hardt said.

According to Hardt, the employee's statement to university police is inaccurate.

While the CatCard office employee said a group of student athletes took money from his hand while he demonstrated use of a cash-to-card machine, Hardt said the employee gave the money away.

But the player also acknowledged that while he was at the CatCard office, he left early, while many other football players remained.

The former CatCard employee, who asked for anonymity to avoid harassment, still stands by his recollection.

"I did not start giving them...money," he said. "I wasn't just handing out extra money to football players."

The employee said Hardt's accusations do not phase him.

"I would be more concerned if the police called me up and said 'we don't believe you,'" the employee said.

UAPD Sgt. Michael Smith said the list of investigative leads came from information gathered by the CatCard office.

"(CatCard director) Liz Taylor gave us a list of names during that time- frame of people who were present and from information Detective (Joseph) Rocco has compiled - that's how the list was formed," Smith said.

Rocco has been investigating the case and interviewing the players since Tuesday, but no new evidence has been uncovered, Smith said.

While Hardt said he was not involved, junior defensive end Austin Uku said he wasn't in the building when the incident occurred.

"I wasn't even there when it happened. I was taking my math placement test at the time," Uku said.

Tomey said he thinks people may have assumed that the named athletes are guilty of theft.

"That's what was so unfair about releasing the list," Tomey said. "People misinterpreted it -Øthat here's a list of people who are guilty."

Tomey added that he also believes it is premature to determine which of the identified players were involved in the incident until police finish their investigation.