A theft allegedly involving two football players occurred early Sunday morning at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity near the University campus, according to the Eugene Police Department and a member of the fraternity.
EPD spokesperson Melinda Kletzok said police responded to the reported theft at 12:48 a.m. on Sunday at the fraternity house, located at 812 E. 14th Ave.
Kletzok said the items stolen included two MacBooks, valued at $2,000 and $1,500 each, and a “valuable” guitar. Kletzok could not release any more information citing an open investigation, and she said she expects an officer to be assigned to the case today.
Kletzok said Masoli and Embry have not been named suspects and there are no persons of interest in the case.
The Emerald received two voicemail messages from a phone belonging to University sophomore and SAE member Wayne Kohnke early Sunday morning just after the incident occurred.
“Hello,” one of the messages said. “Wake up. It’s the story of a lifetime. Jeremiah Masoli and Garrett Embry just stole all my friend’s possessions ... We need a story run on this. Do you understand?”
Media outlets began reporting Sunday night that a member of the fraternity identified the alleged thieves as quarterback Jeremiah Masoli and wide receiver Garrett Embry of the University football team.
The fraternity declined comment when reached by phone Monday.
“Our stance right now is we’re not going to comment on the situation,” a member of SAE said. The fraternity member would not disclose his name.
However, fraternity member and University biology student Max Wolfard, who reported the incident to police, spoke to The Oregonian early Sunday evening.
Wolfard told The Oregonian that he had noticed the star quarterback and wide receiver acting suspicious and that they appeared to be hiding something. He then noticed that one of the players, who he identified as Embry, was carrying his projector screen. Wolfard said the players then ran out of the fraternity in different directions, and Wolfard proceeded to chase after Embry.
After a few blocks, Wolfard said Embry stopped and gave him back his projector, saying, “You’ve got it back, now you better get out of here.”
When Wolfard returned to the fraternity house, he said he discovered his MacBook laptop and guitar were missing. Fellow fraternity member Max Iantorno said his door was open and his MacBook was also missing.
Wolfard told The Oregonian that he was positive he had correctly identified the players.
University athletic department spokesperson Dave Williford called the student’s accusation against the two players “unsubstantiated” and said he would not comment further until EPD knew more.
“We’ve received no updates from yesterday, and at this point, it’s our position that it’s yet to be substantiated that it’s a student-athlete involved in this incident,” Williford said. “Until that’s substantiated, don’t anticipate further comment.”
Williford also said he would not comment on the athletes’ potential athletic punishments should the accusations prove true.
“That’s trying to create something that you don’t know is there,” Williford said, adding. “Each incident with a different athlete is treated differently.”
Williford said he was also unsure what the potential academic punishments may be.
News editor Jill Kimball contributed to this report
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60 comments
kraut."
And as far as Garrett Embry carring a digital projector & wearing street clothes that shouldn't even matter...
Digital projectors are not heavy... so that is not an excuse
U of O should recruit him if he is really fast enough to run down Garret Embry...
chase down Receiver Garrett Embry then shouldn't U of 0 try & recruit him for next season ???
"Also, slander is not a crime, it's a tortious act." Perhaps illegal is too harsh a word but they can seek punitive damages.
"The paper had every reason the believe the veracity of the callers story, so no - this arcicle should not be removed from anywhere." -I know that if I received a more than sketchy phone call in the middle of the night that was not corroborated by the eugene police department I would wait to confirm it before posting it risking the reputation of two public figures at the University of Oregon. However my moral compass lays elsewhere and freedom of the press should be celebrated not suppressed---that's my bad.Name calling is a little uncalled for, yet I appreciate your attempt to expand my vocabulary.--- Cheers