FSU star Warrick cleared to play

Warrick is expected to play against Clemson tonight after pleading guilty Friday to misdemeanor petty theft. He will have a criminal record.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 23, 1999

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida State University football star Peter Warrick was cleared Friday to return to the playing field after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of petty theft in connection with a deep, unauthorized discount of clothing at Dillard's department store.

• A chronology of the events involving Warrick • Now FSU, Warrick and we can move on • Warrick gets warm welcome

Warrick was aboard the team plane headed for Clemson, S.C., when his lawyer, John Kenny, stepped before Circuit Judge John E. Crusoe and announced the terms of a plea bargain.

It allows Warrick, 22, to avoid jail but leaves him with a criminal record. He must complete 30 days of roadside ditch cleaning, serve a year of probation, pay $579 restitution to Dillard's, pay $295 in fines and court costs and donate the discounted Polo and Tommy Hilfiger clothing to the Children's Home Society.

He will have a year to work off the 10-hour days of roadwork with a Leon County work crew. He can schedule them on days he is not in class or playing football.

The deal was roundly cheered by players and fans who are gathering today to watch the first father-son coaching matchup in major college football history. FSU coach Bobby Bowden's son Tommy is the head coach for Clemson.

Bobby Bowden called the return of his star receiver a "miracle from above."

In South Carolina, Warrick issued a statement apologizing to his family, coaches and teammates "for making the mistake I did."

In Bradenton, Warrick's stepfather, Charles Williams, praised the decision, saying "justice has been done." He noted that Warrick resisted the NFL and its millions to remain at FSU this year.

The plea ended two weeks of uncertainty and speculation over Warrick's football future, which had become the talk of fans across the state. The agreement came after Warrick met late Thursday with FSU President Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte.

For the past few days, D'Alemberte has been pummelled by Seminoles fans for insisting that he would not allow Warrick to play if he had a jail sentence hanging over his head. One proposed plea deal would have allowed Warrick to serve a 30-day sentence when the season ended.

D'Alemberte had expressed concern about community service as well in an internal memorandum, but that memo didn't become public until Friday. After thinking about the difference between a jail sentence and community service or roadwork, though, D'Alemberte said he decided he was being too harsh to equate jail with other options.

"As I thought about it more, community service or work isn't really jail," D'Alemberte explained Friday.

D'Alemberte, former president of the American Bar Association, reasoned that a work-crew sentence would be an indication that the criminal justice system did not view the crime as being serious enough to merit jail.

"I tried to make it clear that I was not advising him on plea negotiations," D'Alemberte said.

The FSU president had returned to Tallahassee after interrupting a trip to Barbados, where he was traveling on school business and to pick up an honorary degree from the University of the West Indies. D'Alemberte said his get-together Thursday was the first time he had met Warrick.

"I had been told by our athletic department folks that he was a fine young man and everything in our meeting confirmed that," D'Alemberte said Friday morning.

With D'Alemberte's assurance that he viewed the work-crew option favorably, Kenny went to State Attorney Willie Meggs on Friday and offered to have Warrick plead guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor. It cannot be expunged from Warrick's record.

Meggs said he conferred with his staff and determined that the sentence was not out of line with what they have done for other defendants charged with similar offenses. He approved the deal.

"I think we probably handled it as well as we could," Meggs told reporters. "Most people choose jail instead of work days."

Warrick and his fellow wide receiver, Laveranues Coles, 22, originally were charged with grand theft-retail, a felony, after they bought more than $400 of designer clothes for $21 from Dillard's clerk Rachel Myrtil.

Initially Meggs offered the same deal to all three defendants: plead guilty to a felony, leave the courtroom without a criminal record and spend two years on probation. Myrtil accepted the deal, which means her record can be expunged if she successfully completes probation.

Kenny, after conferring with FSU athletic director Dave Hart, countered with an offer to let Warrick plead guilty to a misdemeanor and serve 30 days in jail after the season. Meggs accepted the deal, but Warrick backed away from it when he learned he could not play until the jail sentence was served.

Confused as a result of mixed signals from FSU officials, Kenny met Thursday night with D'Alemberte to try to get Warrick back on the team. On Friday, he had a new offer for Meggs. Once the deal won the approval of Judge Crusoe, it was official. Warrick and Bowden heard the news when their plane landed in South Carolina.

Richard Greenberg, the lawyer who represented Myrtil, said he thinks the plea bargains for Warrick and his client were both fair.

Myrtil was videotaped by Dillard's security cameras deliberately discounting the merchandise.

The video, released by Meggs on Friday, shows Coles, wearing a gold chain and a gold 7, his FSU number. He held a fistful of what appeared to be $20 bills as he paid for the clothes.

Meanwhile, Warrick hovered in the background, pausing occasionally to look in a store mirror. Warrick's cousin, Shedrick Jermaine Rhodes, 23, stood beside Coles and made a discounted purchase of his own. He has been charged with petty theft and notified to appear in court Nov. 16.

"In light of the circumstances, I think my client got a great deal for what she was involved in," Greenberg said.

Meggs said he will offer either plea deal to Coles.

In statements given to police Oct. 4 and Oct. 6, Warrick, Myrtil and Rhodes acknowledged their roles in the transactions.

Myrtil said she knew Warrick and Coles from parties around the campus and said the men did not ask for a discount. She rang up each item they were purchasing, then voided most of the purchases and charged $10.70 for the items Warrick purchased and a similar amount for the clothes Coles purchased.

Warrick had selected a blue-and-white Polo hat from a shelf and a pair of dark pants, while Coles picked up other items. Coles paid for Warrick's stack of clothing first with a single $20, then handed the Dillard's bag to Warrick. He paid for his own clothes with a second $20 and stood by while Rhodes paid for additional items.

Warrick told investigators five days later that he had $400 in his pocket at the time of the shopping expedition and had planned to pay Coles back for the clothing, according to police reports.

Warrick told police he had visited the Dillard's store twice before and made purchases from the same clerk. She told police she did not give him similar discounts in those earlier shopping encounters.

Officials at Dillards audited her past work and found two other dates in September when her register showed an unusually high number of voided items.

Warrick told police he didn't know exactly what she was doing but, "I thought it was a nice little discount."

-- Times staff writer Adam C. Smith contributed to this report.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.