Thompson given bail, monitor
Posted: Wednesday March 9, 2005 6:02PM; Updated: Wednesday March 9, 2005 6:02PM
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina defensive end Moe Thompson told a Circuit judge on Wednesday he would not run from the law even though he turned himself in to police nearly a week after he was charged with stealing from university dorm rooms.
Dressed in a dark blue Richland County Detention Center jumpsuit, his hands and legs shackled, Thompson quietly apologized during his bond hearing for not turning himself in sooner.
<!--startclickprintexclude-->Circuit Judge Reginald Lloyd ordered Thompson to wear an electronic monitoring system and set bail at $35,000. He only will be allowed to leave his mother's Columbia house for work and church, and he must adhere to an 8:30 p.m. curfew.
Thompson, 21, a three-year starter at South Carolina, is charged with two counts of first-degree burglary and three counts of petit larceny for stealing electronic equipment, including a television and a DVD player from the East Quad dorm room of several female students.
Thompson's lawyer, Debra Chapman, argued that Thompson wasn't aware of the charges when he left Columbia on March 2, the same day the warrants were issued.
"He's not a flight risk," Chapman said. "He's not going anywhere."
His mother, Trish Thompson, reportedly said Chapman had agreed her son would turn himself in after he returned from spring break.
Prosecutor Dolly Justice Garfield argued that Thompson knew of the warrants before he left the area. She said neither her office nor the University of South Carolina Police Department took part in any negotiations for Thompson to surrender after spring break.
"We were prepared to have him extradited wherever he was," Garfield said.
Thompson, who had been in Atlanta, turned himself into police on Tuesday.
Garfield also said Thompson knew about the charges before leaving Columbia because he had been in contact with teammate Kevin Mainord, who also was charged in the incident.
Mainord surrendered last week and his bond was set at $20,000.
Thompson's lawyers deny he spoke with Mainord.
Garfield said Thompson was a flight risk and that the alleged victims of the burglary are worried he could come back.
"This man came into their home, into their dorm while they were asleep and stole their property," she said. "They are very scared of this man."
Thompson and Mainord have been suspended from the football team. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier has said they won't be back if the charges prove true.
The pair also has been suspended from the university, and are not allowed on campus, school spokesman Russ McKinney said.
The suspension will be in effect unless the players go before a student judicial board, he said.