Three Mountain Pointe football players have been suspended from the team after they were allegedly involved in a home robbery earlier this month in Ahwatukee.
Pride football coach Norris Vaughan confirmed the suspensions, but did not disclose the players' identities or details of the incident.
"We suspended some players this week and we had some other players suspended in previous weeks," Vaughan said Saturday. "We look at each one separately and decide when, if at all, it is OK for them to come back to the program."
Ben Morris, community action officer for the South Mountain Precinct of the Phoenix Police Department, said the alleged robbery occurred on Aug. 3 and that they are not releasing the names of the Mountain Pointe juveniles or the name of the victim. Police did confirm that they booked the three suspects into jail, two of them on Aug. 4 and the third on Aug. 5.
Dr. Linda Littell, director of communications for the Tempe Union High School District, said it was not a school-related issue but said district policies are in place should a student athlete be involved in an alleged crime.
"The football team and all other sports have policies where if they violate certain ethical issues they would be eliminated from the team," Littell said. "Something of this nature would most certainly fall under that."
Contact writers: (480) 898-7915 or jskoda@ahwatukee.com; (480) 898-7914 or ahurtado@ahwatukee.com.
