NCAA finds high-level violations at Georgia Tech

The first sentence of the Notice reads as follows: "Based on the information contained in the following allegations, the NCAA Enforcement Staff considers that the case should be reviewed by a hearing panel of the NCAA Division I Offenses, in accordance with the procedures applicable to serious cases. driving offense (level I violation). "

The school is expected to announce its receipt of the notice Friday.

In an e-mail, a spokesperson for the institute said, "Since the NCAA process is still open, Georgia Tech will have no other comments at the moment." until May 16 to respond to allegations from the NCAA.

Thursday night, Pastner was present at the ACC tournament in Charlotte, NC, as an observer. He declined to comment.

Pastner's lawyer, Scott Tompsett, issued a statement last Thursday: "Josh has fully cooperated with the NCAA investigation and he has not been charged with any violations."

The NCAA found that in November 2016 – six months after he was hired, he was turning to Pastner's staff – during an official visit and a member of the team in a striptease club, and had facilitated an inappropriate recruitment contact with a person described in the notice as a representative. of the athletic interest of the school. He also found that the prospect and the team member were provided with $ 300, but not by LaBarrie. (All names in the report, except for LaBarrie and Bell, have been redacted.)

In addition, the NCAA alleged that LaBarrie had provided the NCAA with false or misleading information regarding its knowledge and involvement of the alleged violations, had attempted to influence the member of the team so that he provide false or misleading information and then attempted to conceal his attempt to influence the team. member.

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He did, found the NCAA, even after being told to not talk to others about the matter. LaBarrie was put on administrative leave in November 2017 and resigned later in the season.

The NCAA concluded that LaBarrie's actions deserved justification, which means that any sanction imposed on her would follow her for a fixed period regardless of the school that hired her.

LaBarrie was contacted Thursday for a comment.

"My comment is that these allegations are not all factual and that the truth will be revealed when I meet the committee," wrote LaBarrie in a text. "People who know me know my character and what I represent. It's all part of my pious human journey and it has allowed me to become a better person, a father, a mentor and a coach. "

LaBarrie then thanked those who supported her and said, "Everything will be over soon and I will not define myself as a person or a trainer".

He also wrote that he wished to clarify that he knew Bell but that he had never had "serious interactions with him" and asserted that he "did not" had not brought it with the GT program "or had no knowledge of its interactions with Tech's players.

While Tech claimed that Bell was not a reminder, the NCAA felt he was a representative of the school's sporting interest, which is a violation of the violations committed by him – paying for the theft of former members Josh Okogie and Tadric Jackson, to visit him in Arizona – and his attempts to influence Markel Crawford, a former Memphis player, to switch to Tech, while Crawford was still in school – actions taken on behalf of Tech.

The notice indicated that Bell had provided Okogie and Jackson with shoes, clothing, meals and travel expenses in excess of $ 1,400 – evidence that Bell itself made public in November 2017 after its quarrel with Pastner. The notice also alleges that Bell bought airline tickets for Crawford – whose name is redacted – but Bell documented his attempts to influence Crawford in his ongoing legal saga with Pastner – as well as his brother, a worth $ 883 before canceling them when Crawford chose to transfer to Mississippi. The notice also indicated that Bell had sent hundreds of text messages to Crawford as of February 6, 2017, while Crawford was still in Memphis.

Tech will be asked to provide a response to the NCAA regarding truthfulness and agreement with the allegations. The school will have until May 16 to respond.

The notice does not blame Pastner or name it in the report. He cites the "rapid recognition of the violation, the acceptance of responsibility and the imposition of corrective measures and / or significant sanctions" as a mitigating factor.

Tech has provided a copy of the notice of allegation in response to a request for information from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The complete declaration:

"The Georgia Institute of Technology announced Friday that it has received a notice of NCAA allegations.

"The report, which alleges three violations of the NCAA rules in the Georgia Tech men's basketball program, was received following a joint review by Georgia Tech and the NCAA. An allegation notice is a step in the NCAA's investigation process about potential violations of the rules, but the process is ongoing. Georgia Tech has until May 16, 2019 to respond to the allegations.

"Because the NCAA process remains open, Georgia Tech will not have any other comments yet."

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