Three University of Illinois football players are charged with burglary and robbery after what they claimed to be a prank on a fellow dormitory resident.
The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports the players were charged Thursday and were to be arraigned later in the day with residential burglary and aggravated robbery. Coach Lovie Smith on Wednesday said 18-year-old Darta L. Lee, 19-year-old Zarrian J. Holcombe and 18-year-old Howard E. Watkins were suspended from team activities.
First Assistant State's Attorney Steve Ziegler says the three were wearing masks and dark clothing when they entered a 19-year-old man's room about 1 a.m. Wednesday at Bromley Hall with what he thought was a gun but was a BB gun. The prosecutor said the trio described it as ``a prank or a joke.''
