Three recruits charged in football locker thefts

Three visiting recruits from Carver High School in Columbus, including highly-rated defensive back Deion Bonner, were implicated on Monday in the thefts from the Georgia football lockers last week.

Bonner, one of the top recruits in the state of Georgia for the 2012 class, was charged and arrested on one count of theft-by-taking, according to UGA police chief Jimmy Williamson.

Bonner, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound junior, is a highly recruited defensive back with scholarship offers from a long list of schools including Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida State, Miami, South Carolina and Southern California.

Marquise T. Hawkins, a sophomore running back, was charged and arrested on two counts of theft-by-taking. A third person, who was unnamed because he is under 17 years old and considered a juvenile, was charged with three counts of theft-by-taking.

Bonner and Hawkins were booked at the Clarke County jail on Monday at 9:05 a.m., according to records. They were released about two hours later after posting bond - $1,500 on each charge.

All three players have been removed from the Carver football team as of Monday, reports The Ledger-Enquirer's Chris White.

UGA spokesman Claude Felton said the team was declining comment for the moment.

On April 8, seven Georgia football players reported items stolen from their lockers in the Butts-Mehre building. There were eight reported items with a total value of $1,990, according to the incident reports. They ranged from an I-phone, with a case, valued at $500 taken from defensive end Abry Jones, to a $30 pair of Nike slippers taken from Jordan Love.

The lockers were not locked, according to the incident report, but access to the Butts-Mehre facility was secured by a fingerprint code.

Williamson said a search was performed last week in Columbus, and some items were recovered. But the electronic devices had already been sold away, he said.

Williamson said checks of Facebook were "helpful" in the investigation.