A few days before the University of Richmond began spring football in mid-March, coach Latrell Scott said that linebacker Harry Lee Daniel, a rising junior from Highland Springs High, had been indefinitely suspended from the program because of a violation of team rules.
Scott at that time chose not to elaborate. Daniel this month faced a felony charge of grand larceny in Richmond General District Court. He was responsible for theft of cash and credit cards from a UR dorm, according to Beth Simonds, services commander for the school's police force.
Rashad Winston, also a Highland Springs High graduate and a freshman defensive lineman last season, and wide receiver Marcus Snipes were allegedly with Daniel during the commission of the crime in December, according to Simonds. Winston and Snipes shared in the profit from the crime, she added. They were charged with petit larceny. Winston and Snipes also were indefinitely suspended from the UR football program.
Grand larceny in Virginia involves the theft of an item that has value of more than $200, or theft of money. Petit larceny involves theft of an item that has value of less than $200, or theft of money.
Daniel's case was continued.
"If certain things are done, the agreement is (the charge) will be dismissed on May 13,"
said W. Joseph Owen III, Daniel's attorney.
Restitution has been made, or is being made, by Daniel, Winston and Snipes, according to Simonds.
"There was perhaps a mistake in judgment, bad choices made,"
said Owen, also the attorney for Snipes, who's from Severn, Md. "Things will be resolved through the legal system in a manner that I think is fair to Harry and everyone else involved."
Scott, named UR's coach in December 2009, declined to comment Thursday.
Daniel was a two-sport star at Highland Springs High. As a 6-foot-1 senior guard, he was named to the Group AAA all-state basketball team by the Virginia High School Coaches Association. Daniel averaged 18.6 points and 8.0 rebounds.
UR recruited Daniel as a wide receiver, and his commitment to Richmond was viewed as a major one for the Spiders and Mike London, then the team's coach. Daniel, who made 111 career receptions at Highland Springs and was an all-Central Region selection, switched to outside linebacker at UR in spring 2010.
The 215-pounder has played on special teams for the Spiders. Daniel remains enrolled at UR, as does Snipes.
Daniel and Snipes, who redshirted last season as a true freshman, remain indefinitely suspended from the football program. Winston, 6-1 and 252, was part of UR's rotation on the defensive line as a true freshman last season. He left UR at midsemester, according to Scott.
Wide receiver Donte Boston, a rising senior receiver from Varina High who made 10 catches for the Spiders last season, also has been suspended indefinitely, Scott said at the start of spring ball. Boston's situation is unrelated to the others, according to Scott. Boston sat out UR's 2010 opener at Virginia because of a disciplinary suspension and played in only four games because of injury.
In 2009, Boston was UR's third-leading receiver (33 catches for 494 yards, 4 touchdowns).
