darell1976 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/373160/ BISMARCK – Eight current North Dakota State University football players and one former player are among 11 people facing charges in connection with voter fraud tied to general election ballot measures. Four of the accused are starters on the football team. North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and Secretary of State Al Jaeger identified the individuals charged as: Aireal Boyd, Josh Colville, Josh Gatlin, Demetrius Grey, Jennifer Krahn, Lane O’Brien, Samuel Ojuri, Brendin Pierre, Antonio Rodgers, Bryan Shepherd and Marcus Williams. All have are charged with facilitation of voter fraud or filing a false statement, according to Stenehjem and Jaeger. The charges are Class A misdemeanors. Criminal complaints claim that all circulators of a petition are required to sign an affidavit stating they witnessed all the signatures and that all signatures are genuine. Just what NDSU didn't need...off-field distractions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Let'sGoHawks! Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 http://www.inforum.c...icle/id/373160/ Just what NDSU didn't need...off-field distractions. You beat me to this, I was looking for the Bison criminal thread from the past, but maybe we don't have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petey23 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I am sure that organization hired college kids in Grand Forks as well...................holding my breath for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNDColorado Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Interesting...I wonder if these guys will play this week against CSU? They will need them as CSU is not as bad as people are making them out to be. Their new head coach was Alabama's OC last year; program is moving in the right direction again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darell1976 Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Interesting...I wonder if these guys will play this week against CSU? They will need them as CSU is not as bad as people are making them out to be. Their new head coach was Alabama's OC last year; program is moving in the right direction again. I want to hear what Bohl has to say about this. I know Bohl can't be happy because now these kids' minds may have this entering their head and lose focus on the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homer Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Tough break. It will be interesting to hear the entire story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND-1 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 If this is a serious issue, lets see if Bohl is the man that everybody thinks he is. Lets see if he has the cajones to suspend the players due to the charges being filed. He has suspended players for a minor in possession before and this would be no different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darell1976 Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 As a result, two proposed measures will not be on the November general election ballot. The affected measures are the proposed Constitutional initiative establishing a Clean Water, Lands and Outdoor Heritage Fund and the statutory initiative for medical marijuana. The marijuana issue I can see but the other two? Clean Water and Outdoor Heritage Fund? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNDColorado Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 The marijuana issue I can see but the other two? Clean Water and Outdoor Heritage Fund? Right? Just seems odd to me that these young guys would even care about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillySioux Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I am sure that organization hired college kids in Grand Forks as well...................holding my breath for now. This Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watchmaker49 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 And what do these iniatives have in common? How did they focus only on these guys? Look at which ones did make the ballot. "Jaeger says the petitions for three other initiatives are going on the ballot. They propose a felony penalty for animal cruelty, a ban on indoor workplace smoking and expanded rights for farmers and ranchers in running their operations." Funny thing is in AZ the same types of iniatives are not getting on the ballot and the same types as listed above are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firewall Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 They are really reeling over on Bville and the spin machine is in high gear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNDvince97-01 Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Isn't this an instance where the Head Coach should "suspend indefinitely" pending the outcome of the legal process? Given the details available on it, I tend to think so. Unfortunate situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnt Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Isn't this an instance where the Head Coach should "suspend indefinitely" pending the outcome of the legal process? Given the details available on it, I tend to think so. Unfortunate situation. ... and if they are found to be innocent, then what? They have already suffered a punishment, yet were innocent. If the coach personally knows some illegal behavior went on, then I can see it, but I would think they should get the benefit of the doubt by the coach as well as our legal system. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishSiouxFan Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 ... and if they are found to be innocent, then what? They have already suffered a punishment, yet were innocent. If the coach personally knows some illegal behavior went on, then I can see it, but I would think they should get the benefit of the doubt by the coach as well as our legal system. If those were eight UND hockey players (thank God it's not!) you can bet Hakstol would have suspended them regardless of the disadvantage to the program. Bohl should have done the right thing and temporarily suspended these players until they could find out what's going on. If you look around the the BCS, there are a lot of teams that would have done the right thing and suspended the players regardless of the consequences to the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 These guys were paid to go out and gather signatures (completely legal). However, the AG is claiming they added fraudulent signatures to the petitions they turned in and were caught. http://www.ag.state....ts/09-04-12.pdf Key excerpts: A review of purported signatures on several of the petitions raised suspicions in the Secretary of State’s office, and Jaeger met with Stenehjem, who launched a criminal investigation by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The investigation revealed that several circulators of the petitions had forged signatures on the petitions, either by taking names from the telephone directory, cell phone contact lists of the circulators, or simply making up names of people. Charges have been filed against Aireal Boyd, Josh Colville, Josh Gatlin, Demetrius Grey, Jennifer Krahn, Lane O’Brien, Samuel Ojuri, Brendin Pierre, Antonio Rodgers, Bryan Shepherd and Marcus Williams, for facilitation of voter fraud or filing a false statement. The charges are Class A Misdemeanors. Note: That's the same level of charge that former NDSU linebacker Brendan Jemison faces for his junk out in public "wardrobe malfunction". The criminal complaints allege that each of the circulators of a petition are required to sign an affidavit stating they witnessed all the signatures and that all signatures are genuine. However, the investigation found that the statements were not correct and that many of the individuals whose signatures appeared on the petitions had not, in fact, signed them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND Fan Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Sic - we sure don't like it when SU fans come on our board just to irritate us. Why are you doing the same thing over there? It will just encourage more of them to come here to "retaliate" sometime in the future! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeauxSioux Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 So if these guys were paid to go and collect signatures and this what they produced, I wonder what their employers think. Will there be any charges filed by them? If the media blows this thing up, the question of whether to suspend these guys or not may be out of Bohl's hands. The prez could step in, as this could create a real image problem for NDSU. I'm just thankful that this isn't UND having to go through this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I'm just thankful that this isn't UND having to go through this. ... this time. Hopefully UND student-athletes either (a) understand integrity and what a signature on a legal document means, or (b) are being schooled hard by their coaches about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sioux rube Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 All 8 players are out for saturdays game. Here is coach Bohls news conference. http://740thefan.com/common/more.php?m=49&action=blog&r=6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Just what we all needed: Another reason for the Legislature to cast the stink-eye toward NDUS institutions. (State laws were broken by student-athletes. Don't think this won't be used by some in the Legislature at a later date. And it will be good for none.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Even if the charges are misdemeanors, a guilty plea or conviction for a crime of "dishonesty" may be enough to bar them from a number of jobs in financial services, law enforcement, govt contractors, etc. At the very least, it may not cut in their favor if the choice comes down to two candidates. On a somewhat related note, if election fraud is such an "affront", why is it not treated as a felony? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sicatoka Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 All 8 players are out for saturdays game. Here is coach Bohls news conference. http://740thefan.com...action=blog&r=6 Uh, no; unless something's changed from his 12:45 pm presser, Bohl is going to legal process play out and those 8 (including 4 DBs and a starting tail back) will play Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Risky Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 I have a feeling Bohl will suspend 6 of the 8 players. He will allow Ojuri and Markus Williams to play for their big Colorado State game on Saturday. Those 2 players are just to valuable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darell1976 Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/373160/ In a news conference Tuesday, NDSU head coach Craig Bohl said all eight players will have their day in court. No suspensions were handed out on Tuesday and all eight players will travel with the team this Saturday when NDSU plays Colorado State at 6:06 p.m. CST in Fort Collins, Colo. Updated 1:45pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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