POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Multiple Marist College football players face disciplinary action for their involvement in the theft of several items from freshman residences earlier this academic year. At least two Marian Hall residents had laptops and sneakers stolen on Oct. 20, around 1 p.m.
One resident, freshman Miles Ruggiero, retrieved his stolen laptop from Marist security on Wednesday, Nov. 7, hours after Marist Security escorted at least one football player out of Tenney Stadium during the team’s practice. Ruggiero says a security guard told him, “Let’s just say some players on the football team won’t be attending Marist anymore.”
The Athletic Department and the Office of Student Conduct declined to comment or verify the names of the accused players. But three freshman members of the football team, whom Ruggiero claims Security told him were all involved — wide receiver Hezikiah Hawkins; cornerback Courvoisier Dingle; and linebacker Tyson Stephenson — were removed from the Marist Football roster this week. All three players can be found in Marist’s press release announcing new recruits back in May 2018.
“It’s guys that have been in our program that were involved with stuff,” said head coach Jim Parady. “Some guys made some bad choices and they paid the price for it, as they should have, and now they’re moving on with their life outside of our program.”
“Last week we did investigate the theft of various items taken from campus locations in the past few weeks,” Director of Safety and Security John Blaisdell said in a statement to Center Field. “We recovered a variety of stolen property including laptops, clothing and electronics. The items have been returned to the owners.”
The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department denied Center Field’s Freedom of Information Law requests to release records on a pair of arrests made in connection with the case “due to an ongoing investigation and/or” a pending court disposition.
There have been multiple thefts reported in freshman residence Champagnat Hall this semester, but it is unclear if these incidents are related.
The Red Foxes are 5-5 on the season and 5-2 in conference play. Marist was eliminated from postseason contention last week with a loss to Drake University.
Will Bjarnar, Tim Furgiuele, Meaghan Roche, Matt Rzodkiewicz, Marco Schaden and Dan Statile contributed reporting.
Great reporting. Wish the video interview with the coach addressed the charges more directly, coach dismissed this too easy.