Report: Alleged pot dealer supplied Kansas Jayhawks basketball players
An Overland Park, Kan., man allegedly supplied marijuana to a number of basketball players on the 2010-2011 Kansas Jayhawks team, a federal prosecutor said.
Samuel Villeareal, 32, is one of 25 defendants charged in U.S. District Court with conspiring to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of “high-grade” marijuana in Johnson and Douglas counties.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Terra Morehead said authorities seized $11,000 and an iPhone when they searched Villeareal’s house in May 2011. She said Villeareal supplied marijuana to “a number of Kansas University basketball players from the 2010-2011 season.”
“We know that because of the text messages we obtained from the iPhone and also from surveillance that was done throughout this investigation of Mr. Villeareal,” Moorhead said in court documents obtained by The Kansas City Star.
“At one occasion law enforcement had Mr. Villeareal this basketball season at the Sprint Center sitting behind the KU basketball bench with a number of the players,” she said. “So we know that he had probably not only a personal relationship with them but a professional relationship as well.”
Two players from the 2010-11 Jayhawks team, Jeff Withey and Royce Woolridge, said they didn’t know Villeareal. A third player, Elijah Johnson, did not comment when asked by The Star if he knew Villeareal. A fourth player, Jordan Juenemann, declined to comment.
All freshman or new student-athlete transfers at Kansas are required to take a drug test “within a reasonable amount of time” after arriving on campus. All teams that qualify for post-season play may be subject to testing.
The university conducts unannounced, random testing during the year. All athletes are tested at least twice while they attend the university.
A Kansas athlete who tests positive is required to undergo counseling and is subject to more frequent testing. They wouldn’t be suspended from a game until they test positive for a third time.
The Jayhawks advanced to the Elite Eight in the 2011 Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament.
University athletic officials declined comment.
