UNC RECRUIT ARRESTED ON DRUG CHARGES

MEBANE -- Eastern Alamance High basketball star [NAME DELETED] , a North
Carolina recruit who is the state's career scoring leader, was among
49 students arrested on drug charges Wednesday morning in a sweep of
six high schools in the Alamance-Burlington School System.

Authorities charged [NAME DELETED] with two counts of possession with intent to
sell and deliver marijuana, two counts of sale and delivery of
marijuana, and two counts of possession and selling and delivering a
controlled substance on school grounds.

They are all felony charges, according to Randy Jones, a spokesman for
the Alamance County Sheriff's Office.

The 18-year-old [NAME DELETED] was released Wednesday afternoon after posting a
$40,000 secured bond and will make his first court appearance today at
the Alamance County Courthouse in Graham, Jones said.

Eastern Alamance assistant principal Edward Fasold told The Herald-Sun
that neither John Moon, the school's head boys' basketball coach and
athletics director, nor school principal JoAnne Hayes would comment on
the arrest.

"[Moon] is in a meeting with his team right now, and he won't have
anything to say when he gets out of it," Fasold said Wednesday
afternoon. "He has no comment. We have no comment."

[NAME DELETED], a two-time Associated Press All-State first-team pick, was
recruited by former UNC coach Matt Doherty. He verbally committed to
UNC as a sophomore and signed his national letter-of-intent with the
Tar Heels in November during a ceremony in the Eastern Alamance gym.

UNC basketball coach Roy Williams discussed [NAME DELETED]'s arrest during his
Wednesday afternoon news conference.

"It's disturbing, surprising. It's very surprising," Williams said.
"I'm just learning everything about it. It happened today. I don't
have enough information at this time.

"He does not play for me. He's not under my watch. I do have certain
thoughts and feelings that are personal and will stay that way until I
share them with his family. It is so new, and no one has great
information right now."

Rashad McCants, a sophomore who is UNC's leading scorer, said that
[NAME DELETED] had to "look at the big picture.

"He's got a scholarship to North Carolina. Everybody's watching. He
can't do anything that's going to jeopardize that," McCants said.
"He's a really good player, breaking records and things like that.
He's on a roll, but you've got to stay away from all that."

"I thought about [NAME DELETED] a lot today," said Sean May, another UNC
sophomore. "I'm with him and I'm praying for him."

[NAME DELETED], a 6-3 guard, broke the North Carolina High School Athletic
Association's 44-year-old career scoring record during a game at High
Point Andrews in December. He has scored 3,306 career points.

He has set several other NCHSAA basketball marks, including career
3-pointers (335) and free throws made (633), and he is on pace to
break the state's career and season scoring average records.
[NAME DELETED], who is averaging 40.2 points this season, scored 65 points in a
game last month and scored 47 points in his team's 93-70 win over
Graham on Tuesday night before his arrest.

Eastern Alamance, who has a 16-5 overall record (9-0 Mid-State 2-A) is
scheduled to host Northwood on Friday night.

Becky Shoffner, a spokeswoman for the Alamance-Burlington School
System, said that all students arrested Wednesday will face a
suspension from school of at least 10 days.

"Any student who is suspended from school is suspended from any
extracurricular activity," Shoffner said.

A student convicted of a felony is ineligible to compete under NCHSAA
rules.

UNC officials declined to comment on [NAME DELETED]'s specific case and whether
it would effect the university's scholarship offer or admissions process.

If an arrest or other incident occurs after an applicant is admitted
to the university but before the start of the school year, the student
must let the admissions office know, said Jerry Lucido, UNC's director
of undergraduate admissions.

Lucido said that a conviction or other disciplinary action would lead
university officials to re-examine the situation once the applicant
explains what happened.

Such explanations are generally made in writing, Lucido
said.

"It would cause us to take the step of reading that explanation,
investigating the explanation, then calling university personnel
together to determine enrollment," he said.

There is no specific rule denying admission to an applicant convicted
of a crime. The admissions office reviews a criminal situation until
it is resolved through the legal system, Lucido said.

"Any individual has due-process rights," he said. "We have to be
respectful of those rights."

[NAME DELETED]'s arrest came as part of a five-month operation that was carried
out in all six Alamance County high schools and involved the
Burlington Police Department, Graham Police Department and Alamance
County Sheriff's Office.

The operation was done at the request of Jim Merrill, the
superintendent of the Alamance-Burlington School System, in response
to growing concerns among principals and parents about the presence of
drugs on school property.

Starting in August, undercover officers went into each high school and
purchased drugs on school property and at off-campus locations. Jones
said the investigation also involved video and audio tape.

"I'm not saying that's the case with [[NAME DELETED]]," Jones said, "but I'm
saying that it could be and audio and video tape were used in some
cases."

The arrests of non-students began Wednesday morning at 5 a.m., Jones
said. The schools were then locked down at 8:15 a.m., and officers
began serving warrants on students for charges that included
possession with intent to sell and deliver and the sale and delivery
of controlled substances, including marijuana, cocaine, MDMA
(ecstasy), OxyContin and other prescription drugs.

Nineteen students were arrested at Burlington's Cummings High, nine
each at Eastern Alamance and Southern Alamance, six at Williams, four
at Graham and two at the Sellars-Gunn Education Center in Burlington.

Several other athletes were arrested, including one of [NAME DELETED] 's Eastern
Alamance teammates, [NAME DELETED]. Other athletes charged were
[NAMES DELETED]

"We've done things like this for a number of years," Jones said. "We
didn't target people. We targeted the problem."