George Mason Basketball: Apparently Andre Cornelius was arrested for credit card fraud

Monday, September 19, 2011

Apparently Andre Cornelius was arrested for credit card fraud

We have learned that senior guard Andre Cornelius was arrested and will be arraigned tomorrow on felony credit card fraud charges.

Not news you want to hear with less than a month to go before official practices start.

Here is the official statement from the University I received:

"[Andre] Cornelius has been summarily suspended from the team as a result of the charges filed against him. The suspension will be in effect until the legal and University judicial processes have been completed."

If you are keeping score this isn't the first time Cornelius has been suspended by the team.

More on the story here from the Post's Steven Goff.

9/20 UPDATE: Cornelius was arraigned today and agreed to appear in court in November, where he will then enter his plea. I think it's safe to say he won't be available for the all important NIT Tip-off games which start November 14. Would have to imagine he ends up pleaing to a lesser charge and doing community service. All this would most likely result in him being suspended for anywhere between 3-5 games this season. That's just my guess though as their could be a bunch of other circumstances we don't know about.

[via @Cody_Gaines, @NOVAsOwnJP]

16 Comments:

mike said...: Going to be an interesting season; 8:05 PM
Matt said...: This is definitely not great! However, when you read past the head line if this is limited to finding a card and spending $60, it could be a lot worse! Seems like he made a bad choice but it wasn't a shopping spree. I know we all expect more from a senior but hopefully it is a tough life lesson learned and he will move on. I do hope it is limited to what the Post said and not just because I want him to rain threes this year. If this becomes a significant suspension it defninitely leaves a gap because the rest of the pool for that spot is young!; 9:12 PM
outlaw said...: It's not like he killed someone. The kid is young and temptation got the best of him. President Clinton, President Bush and even our current President Obama have all made foolish mistakes and come out on top. Learn from it and move on. If you make your 3's nobody will remember. If you don't, i'll be the first to cast the first stone.; 1:08 AM
out1aw said...: If the victim was a VCU graduate all charges should be dropped. I blame this on Coach L. Poor Acorn is having abandonment issues and is lashing out. You see, he was STEALING and trying to draw the CHARGE, kinda like how Coach L. taught him... kinda, but he came up short. Coach L. should be fined and Acorn should be given a standing ovation. I've missed this blog over the summer months; i'm sure i was missed as well.; 1:16 AM
Mike O said...: Let's all say it together, folks...

"REBUILDING year".; 11:36 AM
James said...: Of course you were missed.

Who are you?; 1:21 PM
twpoat. said...: I am "the worst poster of all-time."; 2:48 PM
c hirsch said...: Should have stuck with pillows.; 5:49 PM
Teambonz said...: Rebuilding year? Are you on crack? We just won the CAA outright and return three senior starters. The rest of the CAA is much weaker (except maybe VCU) as many teams lost key seniors. This year is OUR year. Well, it's supposed to be! Our highest rated freshman coming in and a key redshirt sophmore. Let's hope this isn't a rebuilding year.; 9:48 PM
Mattlanouechapman said...: Agree. Rebuilding is usually resevered to change over in players! I don't expect a seemless transition but the hope is that Hewitt can take a team that still has several starters from last year and continue their progress.; 8:58 AM
Matt Cerilli said...: Don't sleep on Drexel; 12:42 PM
LawMom3 said...: If the Commonwealth is intent on pursuing the felony this case isn't likely to end in November. He's got two charges, one a felony and one a misdemeanor, and because the General District Court can't dispose of felony charges if the Commonwealth really wants to hammer him they have the option of dropping (nol prosequi) the misdemeanor charge and proceeding with a preliminary hearing and then taking it upstairs to the circuit court where he would then have to appear in December on a return on the indictment and the case would then be set for some time between January and March. That's if the felony isn't dropped or bargained down to misdemeanor. This looks like a first offense, though, so a more likely disposition is he agrees to plead guilty to the credit card fraud (a misdemeanor) in exchange for the Commonwealth dropping the more difficult to prove intentional credit card/number theft felony. He's likely to end up having to do some community service and probably have some jail time suspended over his head (up to 12 months' worth, but not likely to exceed maybe 180 days) and placed on probation. Sometimes, in exchange for the decision not to pursue the felony, the Commonwealth extracts an agreement to something like a weekend or several days in jail. Andre's biggest problem is the claim that he just found this credit card lying around campus and figured it would be okay to use. A more likely scenario is that someone stole it out of someone's purse or wallet or drawer and then gave it to him because he figured it couldn't be traced back to him - no doubt forgetting that he's actually quite well known in this area and easy to recognize. Heck, I saw him standing on the street near the courthouse the day he was arrested and released and found myself wondering what he was doing there, all dressed in his GMU workout duds and carrying on a cell phone conversation. I've represented a lot of people on stolen credit card cases and they ALL say the same thing, that they just found the thing lying on the sidewalk or street. It's like the drunk driver who inevitably claims to have had only 2 beers. No one believes it. He's probably going to be pressured to reveal more about just how this thing came into his possession, but in the end I would think he's likely to have it dealt with as a misdemeanor and perhaps he'll be given a suspended imposition of sentence with the possibility of dismissing the charge after a year if he complies with all the rules to the court's satisfaction.

All in all this episode shows an astonishing lack of judgment on Andre's part. He can pull himself back from the brink, but being stupid and larcenous is no way to go through life.; 6:14 PM
Graham said...: I was told that the card was his ex girlfriends and shes pressing charges; 7:11 PM
LawMom3 said...: Bingo. That sounds like a more likely scenario than the "just found it on the path" nonsense. Although, if it's his ex-girlfriend's then why wouldn't he tell the cops she loaned it to him? Hmm. Something's off here.; 8:48 PM
Ross_williams1 said...: I agree with your analysis. If he is able to cut a deal and pleads guilty to the misdemeanor, do you know if the NCAA punish him further? I have this feeling that he may be through at GMU.; 9:56 AM
Uncertain said...: I do not think this is the case... not if you look at the July Police blotter for credit card theft... It was reported from Eastern Shore; 3:03 PM

Apparently Andre Cornelius was arrested for credit card fraud

George Mason Basketball

Monday, September 19, 2011

Apparently Andre Cornelius was arrested for credit card fraud

16 Comments:

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