Once again, smoking marijuana in a dormitory has landed a Georgia football player in trouble with the law.
Justin Scott-Wesley, who is sidelined for the season with a knee injury, was cited late Wednesday night for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana and possession/use of a drug object after housing personnel detected the odor of marijuana emanating from his room at Rooker Hall.
According to police records, UGA Police officer Matt Browning was dispatched to the dormitory at 10:41 p.m. Wednesday. The officer traced the smell on the first floor of the dorm to Scott-Wesley’s room. After Scott-Wesley was confronted and admitted smoking marijuana, he grudgingly gave consent to search his room, and a glass pipe and marijuana “grinder” were located in a desk drawer, the report said.
No significant quantities of marijuana were found, but the residue in the grinder resulted in the possession charges, according to the report.
However, an arrest warrant was not issued until Thursday morning. Scott-Wesley turned himself in at the Athens-Clarke County Jail at 4:19 p.m. Thursday, and he was released three hours later on $4,000 in bond. He was booked under his given name of Justin Bernard Wesley.
UGA Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said allowing Scott-Wesley to remain in his dorm room and not taking him to jail is standard operating procedure for all students in such cases.
“If there are no safety issues for the person or other parties and no urgency with result of the situation at that moment, it’s common for officers to get all the information, do what they need to do and just sign a warrant the next morning,” Williamson said. “That allows (students) to deal with it during working hours and not have to miss classes or anything.”
Scott-Wesley’s scenario is very similar to the one that resulted in discipline for two football players in May. Police were called to a room occupied by safety Josh Harvey-Clemons and tight end Ty Flournoy-Smith (since dismissed from the team) because a residence-hall assistant smelled marijuana. Neither player was arrested in that incident, but because they admitted to police they smoked marijuana, they were disciplined for violating the athletic department’s marijuana-use policy.
Harvey-Clemons was suspended for the first game of this season, and Flournoy-Smith was dismissed because of a previous arrest.
Georgia coach Mark Richt issued a statement after the team arrived in Florida on Friday: “I’m disappointed in the news about Justin. We will discipline him according to our policy. We will also educate him, provide him counsel so he can learn from this, and be able to move forward in a very positive direction. I’m confident he will respond properly to the correction process.”
