Nine SouthWest Edgecombe basketball players arrested
Nine SouthWest Edgecombe High School students charged with stealing drinks and candy from a school concession stand face suspension from school and criminal charges.
Posted — UpdatedLauren Edmondson, spokeswoman for Edgecombe County Public Schools, said the boys, all basketball players, were removed from the team.
They used a key to get into the concession stand and took Snickers bars and Gatorade, authorities said.
Three were suspended from school for six days, and six were suspended for four days, Edmondson said. All nine face charges of misdemeanor breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny and possession of stolen property.
Those charged include one juvenile and the following:
- Eric Williams, 16, of 3455 N.C. Highway 111 South in Tarboro
- Duane McKesson, 16, of Pinetops
- Delonta Dupree, 17, of Pinetops
- Devonte Williams, 16, of Pinetops
- Ernest McKinnon, 17, of Sharpsburg
- Anthony Coley, 17, of 1104 Johnson St. in Rocky Mount
- TyQuavious Wooten, 16, of Macclesfield
- Gerald Hinton, 17, of Pinetops
Edmondson said JV players would be promoted to fill the varsity roster.
Hinton's father, also named Gerald Hinton, said his son is disappointed and upset to be missing out on the rest of the season.
"I'm just trying to keep him positive," Gerald Hinton said.
He added that he has no issue with his son being kicked off the team or being suspended, but thinks the criminal charges go too far.
"I don't think it was that serious that he had to go to jail," Gerald Hinton said. "They could have made them add some laps or do some different things, like clean up around the school."
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