Hogs basketball players arrested; investigation includes counterfeit cash – KTHV

Arkansas men’s basketball players Anton Beard, Jacorey Williams and Dustin Thomas were suspended indefinitely on Wednesday after all three were arrested on first-degree forgery charges in Fayetteville, Arkansas, per a statement from the school’s athletic department.

Williams, Beard and Thomas were seen on surveillance footage using counterfeit $20 bills, according to the arrest report.

Their arrests were in connection with a two-month investigation into counterfeit money. The suspension of Williams, Beard and Thomas is indefinite.

“We have become aware of a pending legal issue involving three men’s basketball student-athletes”, it read. They were all suspended indefinitely from the Razorback basketball team, officials said.

The report alleges Beard made four purchases with counterfeit $20 bills at three different locations and exchanged six counterfeit $50 bills for three $100 bills. They were identified on-camera and spoke with police at the station where the players told police how they received the money, but denied knowledge of it being counterfeit.

Beard, 19, is a rising sophomore and Williams, 21, is a senior on the Razorbacks’ basketball team. Thomas is ineligible to play in 2015-16 after transferring from Colorado.

In Arkansas, first-degree forgery is a Class B felony. Williams is a three-year letterman and started seven games as a junior, averaging 4.8 points and 2.8 rebounds. Kapita enrolled at Spire Academy in Ohio for a post-graduate year, the school announced.

Forward Bobby Portis, the SEC Player of the Year, turned pro and was a first-round draft choice by the Chicago Bulls, while starting guard/forward Michael Qualls also turned pro early and signed as a free agent with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Beard, 19, averaged 5.7 points per game en route to earning all-freshman honors in the SEC last season.