South Carolina football freshmen who were suspended face gun charges

2023-03-16 16:55:49 By : Ms. Nicole He

COLUMBIA — Records obtained by The Greenville News show that three South Carolina football players who were suspended Feb. 3 are facing charges related to the illegal possession of an AR-15 rifle.

Anthony Rose, a freshman safety who redshirted the 2022 season, was booked into Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia on Feb. 6 at 9:30 p.m. according to a booking report.

A warrant for Rose's arrest issued Feb. 6 states that at approximately 7:18 p.m. on Jan. 25, university housing staff "observed and photographed an AR-15 rifle" in Rose's campus apartment at 650 Lincoln Street during a health and safety check. The weapon was reported to university police, who responded to Rose's apartment.

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The warrant states that as officers waited for Rose to answer the door, he threw the rifle out of a window and into a common area. It added, "Two associates of Rose can be seen retrieving the rifle from the common area and one is concealing it in his pants." The warrant states that officers reviewed video footage that corroborates the account.

Rose, 20, was detained on two charges: contributing to the delinquency of a minor and carrying or displaying a firearm in a public building or adjacent area. A personal recognizance bond was set at $20,000, and Rose was released on bond Feb. 6.

Freshmen Monteque Rhames and Cameron Upshaw, both early enrollees for the Class of 2023, were also suspended. Rhames, 18, was arrested and booked at 9:29 a.m. He was charged with obstructing justice and carrying weapons on school property.

A warrant issued Feb. 3 for Rhames' arrest states that he retrieved an AR-15 from a courtyard after it was thrown from an apartment window. It added Rhames concealed the rifle in his pants and left the property "in a minor codefendant's car." Rhames was released on a personal recognizance bond of $10,000 on Feb. 3.

According to a booking report, Upshaw, 17, was charged with possessing a weapon on school grounds and obstructing justice. A petition filed in the 5th Judicial Circuit family court by USCPD officer Jacob Graf reiterated that an "adult codefendant" hid the rifle in his pants, and both left the property in a car belonging to Upshaw.

The petition states that Upshaw corroborated the story in a Jan. 30 interview. It also states that university police executed a lawful search warrant on Upshaw's iPhone, which revealed "text conversations regarding the incident and referencing multiple firearms being stored at the 650 Lincoln property."

Rhames, a Sumter native, was a four-star edge prospect and the No. 5 recruit in South Carolina. He enrolled in January with Upshaw, a Perry, Florida, native and three-star safety. Rose is a Miami native who was a four-star safety coming out of high school. He did not appear in any games in 2022.

Coach Shane Beamer said Tuesday that there is no timeline for the players' suspensions. He said any decisions about their future will come from above his head at the university.

"That's a university decision and I have bosses and there's processes that those guys go through within the university and outside of the university as well," Beamer said. "Right now, neither of the three are involved in our program. Thinking of them, support them, and here for them but right now they're not a part of the program, and ... don't anticipate them being back with us at any point soon."