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Posey’s lawyer: Posey ‘hasn’t done anything wrong’

antonetz.3@osu.edu

Published: Saturday, October 8, 2011

Updated: Friday, June 15, 2012 22:06


Suspended Ohio State wide receiver DeVier Posey's attorney provided documents to The Lantern claiming that drive time, as well as phone records, bank activity and timecards are evidence that Posey wasn't overpaid to the extent of a five-game suspension.

Larry James, an attorney with Crabbe, Browne & James LLC, who is paid by OSU for representing Posey, spoke with The Lantern Saturday in his firm's downtown office about the NCAA's announcement Friday that Posey would be suspended five games for receiving money for work he didn't do from former booster Robert DiGeronimo.

OSU did not immediately provide The Lantern with information pertaining to how much James is paid.

Posey was originally scheduled to return to play Saturday at Nebraska after being suspended five games for the "Tattoo-gate" scandal. However, OSU athletic director Gene Smith announced on Oct. 3 that Posey would be suspended at least one additional game, before the NCAA's ruling Friday that Posey must actually sit five more games.

OSU lost to Nebraska on Saturday, 34-27. OSU receivers only caught six passes on 18 total attempts between quarterbacks Braxton Miller and Joe Bauserman for 108 yards.

DiGeronimo employed Posey at Independence Excavations and Valley Laser Car Wash near Independence, Ohio, from June 18, 2009, through March 20, 2011. OSU and NCAA enforcement staffs concluded that Posey was paid for 70 hours of work, despite only working 21.5 hours. He was overpaid by 48.5 hours and $727.50.

Posey is being ordered to pay that figure back as part of the NCAA's ruling. James said he has "never seen any process like this whatsoever" in regards to the NCAA's investigation of Posey.

In an Oct. 5 letter from James' firm to the NCAA reinstatement staff, James said the athletes "did not know the precise method by which their wages were being calculated" and that Posey "had no reason to believe that his wages may have been miscalculated or that he may have been overpaid."

DiGeronimo said in a June 29 letter to James that all athletes were paid $15 an hour, a rate he said was comparable to his shop employees but less than what local union members who do comparable work would be paid.

Drive time

James argued that drive time to the Independence area from Columbus and back was included in Posey's compensation.

James said in a letter dated Sept. 30 to Doug Archie, OSU's associate athletic director for compliance, that the days and hours Posey worked were incorrectly reported. Independence Excavating originally reported that Posey worked 10 hours the week ending March 27, 2009, 24 hours the week ending June 18, 2009, 20 hours the week ending Feb. 19, 2010 and 16 hours the week ending March 25, 2011.

According to the letter, the hours should have been reported as 10 hours, 11 hours, nine hours and 16 hours, respectively, and Posey was paid for those hours. Each week incorporated driving time to Independence from Columbus and back as part of his compensation, which is normal for union employees.

Posey was paid a grand total $978.49 from DiGeronimo, which accounts for 65.23 hours of the 70 hours for which he was paid, assuming he was paid $15 per hour.

Posey also received $102 in impermissible benefits for a round of golf with Columbus photographer Dennis Talbott.

Phone records

James also argued that phone records corroborate that Posey was in the Independence area working at the times he was supposed to be working.

Phone records show Posey made and took phone calls from Independence, as well as surrounding cities West Salem, Ashland, Cleveland (where Posey stayed with running back Dan Herron the week ending March 25, 2011), Broadview, Beachwood, Medina, Mansfield, Brecksville, Warren and Cuyahoga Heights, among others during the weeks in question while he was supposed to be working.

However, the letter states the reason why calls were traced to a multitude of cities is because the two Independence Excavation locations and the car wash at which he worked, Valley Laser Car Wash, are all located a mile from each other in Valley View, Ohio, which is north of Independence.

The letter also states that the calls could have been traced from antennas outside of the area because the nearest Verizon towers where Posey was making calls from may have been experiencing high call volume.

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15 comments

Anonymous
Thu Oct 13 2011 14:13
As soon as you start paying college football players more than scholarship levels currently allow, the government will begin treating it as a For-Profit enterprise...not a Non-profit ..meaning it is now taxable as a business cocern. Players are getting paid to play the max allowable to remain amateurs and protect OSU's non-profit status. Pay players more but give up non-profit status. No school, big or small, B10 or SEC, public or private wants that to happen. That is why all your homer arguments about how OSU football players should make more money because of their big contributions to the university.. don't mean squat. OSU makes a ton of tax-free money from football but they aren't gonna mess up their non-profit tax status. We got caught cheating, but we aren't that stupid.
Anonymous
Tue Oct 11 2011 11:44
Oh yes, mister high and mighty, what a terrible human being this guy is for having a summer job. Let's throw him under the bus. HE WOULDN'T EVEN NEED A LAWYER FOR THIS LEGAL MESS IF HE DIDN'T PLAY OSU FOOTBALL. Who are you to say it is a misappropriation of funds to pay a lawyer to defend him? Are you so dense you can't see it is in the university's football program's best interest (and therefore in the university's best interest)? Or should we just let this issue, where they believe he did nothing wrong, go down as another infraction that will add to the penalties and sanctions and reduce the OSU football brand?

I don't know why I'm even responding to you, because you obviously didn't even read the article. You just came here to vent your opinion. Posey isn't initiating this, it isn't, as you said, "If Posey has a problem with the NCAA's decision, he should fight it on his own dime." If you would have read the article you would have read this quote from Smith:

"I am extremely disappointed with the NCAA's decision regarding Devier Posey," Smith said. "This penalty is harsh considering the nature of the violation and the five-game suspension already served by this student athlete."

Do you have any idea how many hundreds of thousands of dollars Auburn spent last year defending Cam Newton? It is not an improper benefit for a university to defend its student-atheletes. So, why don't YOU sit down, shut up and stop wasting our time with your ignorant and incorrectly informed opinions.

Anonymous
Tue Oct 11 2011 01:39
The problem with the university paying Posey's legal fees is that it's a misappropriation of funds. Students have access to legal services through the College of Law legal clinics, and they only handle certain kinds of problems. It is certainly not the case that any student at OSU who gets into some trouble or wants to challenge a decision in civil court is entitled to a private attorney paid for by OSU. This is something Posey is getting because he is a football player, and gee, that's sounds like an improper benefit and yet another NCAA infraction to me. Who cares how much money the football program brings in? That's irrelevant to this issue. If Posey has a problem with the NCAA's decision, he should fight it on his own dime. Better yet, he should just sit down, shut up, and try to stay out of trouble for more than a couple of weeks.
Clint
Mon Oct 10 2011 19:03
It's about time someone stands-by the Buckeye Players . This is absolutely ridiculous what the NCAA and ESPN along with other News Media Outlets are printing about the Ohio State Buckeyes and the players . Once again , No criminal activity , No illegal recruiting , + No cheating of any kind ...all very minor infractions and most are not accurately reported or investigated . This is an absolutely travesty of justice ..... HC Jim Tressel and all the suspended Buckeyes were wronged by the NCAA . What is wrong with winning all the time like the Buckeyes have been doing ..?
Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 17:22
@"it's still a huge difference"

Your comparison is off for a number of reasons, not just your gross misestimates, or errors in numbers as you call them. For one, as you so estutely pointed out there are a very large number of students at OSU. This is your first, and most critical, error. Since there are a large number of people pouring that tuition into the University, there are also a large number of people who are receiving a product/return. So, I'm glad you can add and multiply, but 45k in-state students contributing 10k/year, just means that each student is contributing 10k/year. Likewise for the out-of-state students, each is contributing ~25k/year. Now, let's apply that to the football players. ~100 players (I'm being generous, since there are fewer players, which means they each contribute more) and your estimate of 50 million in ticket sales (an underestimate I would guess), that means each player is CONTRIBUTING $500,000 in ticket revenues alone!!! Do you see the glaring fault in your logic? I know there are coaches and staff payrolls and other expenses, but let's also keep in mind that you left out two sources of revenue generated by the football program that are in the same ballpark as ticket sales: TV contracts and generous donors. Not to mention other sources such as merchandise, concessions and parking. Don't get me wrong, I believe a university's first priority is, and always should be, its students (though you could argue, as most would, that faculty should be its first priority). However, let's be reasonable, and logical, football players are contributing at a rate of at least, EASILY, 10 times that of any regular student, and these lawyer fees are very small, and very reasonable, use of revenue to protect a university's student-athelete.

Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 10:48
Sue the NCAA... someone needs to realize the NCAA is a GESTAPO org
Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 09:53
From below... "Most Buckeyes are drafted and enjoying the NFL"... Ummm... no they aren't, in fact very few get drafted and fewer still actually play in the NFL
Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 08:27
I don't really care about the lawyer fees being covered by ohio state. That is provided for any student I believe not just student athletes, but please don't downplay the role of tuition at ohio state. Tuition is a major source of income for Ohio State. I am going to estimate $70/ticket, 105,000 tickets/game and 7 home games. That's ~$50 million from ticket sales per year. Ohio State has about 45k in state students at ~$10k tuition/year and ~11k out of state students at ~$25k per year. That equates to over $700 million in tuition fees collected per year. Its just quick math and I may have errors in numbers, but it is still a huge difference even if the numbers are a little off.
Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 06:59
I want the truth to finally come out. It does not matter when he comes back the season is over.
Anonymous
Mon Oct 10 2011 06:09
Responding to the statement : "Tressel made better and more accountable students out of most of them...rarely is that mentioned but it is factual.
"

This all happened under Tressels watch. This happened when he was physically there.....so how does he make them more accountable??????

Anonymous
Sun Oct 9 2011 23:22
Still a homer job others are not receiving, Until the NCAA sets up in every school and dogs them like this ... --- But, they should be thrilled with the fallout. Now go ruin some major violators at schools that you only have to have a pulse to be admitted into. Tressel made better and more accountable students out of most of them...rarely is that mentioned but it is factual.
Anonymous
Sun Oct 9 2011 20:26
Larry James's explanation for the reason Posey's phone records show a lot of calls from places other than the place where he was supposed to be working: "High call volume" made all those calls "appear" to originate from different areas? Come on. That stretches believability. And by calling the NCAA investigators "disingenuous," Larry James is not helping tOSU's case.
Anonymous
Sun Oct 9 2011 16:48
The OSU football program makes a ton of money, more than enough to cover lawyer fees without even coming close to dipping into your precious tuition money. Come back off the ledge. It's going to be okay as long as you stop jumping to completely baseless conclusions. These athletes bring in waaaaaay more money to the university than your meager tuition money will ever contribute. And for all those sold out stadiums, TV contracts, and merchandise sales, these guys just get a scholarship (hint: less than 25k a year). I don't think it is that much to have lawyers on retainer to protect their interests for all that they bring in to your university. Are you kidding me? Stop whining.
Anonymous
Sun Oct 9 2011 00:58
Wait a second here--this lawyer is BEING PAID BY OSU to represent Posey??? Are you kidding me? Since when does my tuition money go to foot the legal bills for misbehaving student-athletes? Since when are the OSU students paying Posey's legal bills? What's the story on this, Lantern people?
Anonymous
Sat Oct 8 2011 20:41
What Posey's mother said when all this started really bothers me. Is she a college graduate because my student's job wasn't to sell B10 items WE treasure to take care of me or pay my bills?????? The college experience is once in a lifetime like the Sr prom. I said it once and I will keep saying it PARENTS are the downfall of these egomaniac athletes. Posey take this as a learning lesson and prepare for your future (Most Buckeyes are drafted and enjoying the NFL). Hard for me to have sympathy on things these players brought on themselves........




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