TUCSON, ARIZ. ? The Arizona athletic department is investigating allegations that members of the No. 1-ranked Wildcats basketball team took petty cash and up to 80 candy bars from a vending machine in Lawrence, Kan., last weekend.
At his weekly news conference, coach Lute Olson said Tuesday that the validity of the allegations was unclear.
“There is nothing but hearsay and rumor, and they will hear from our attorney,” he said.
An unidentified Wildcats coach paid the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Lawrence $80 for the missing candy, and manager Stephanie Bowler told the Tucson Citizen that the hotel would not press charges.
However, team spokesman Richard Paige said the university would continue to pursue the matter.
“The athletic department is beginning to investigate, obviously spurred on by the coaches’ desire to get to the facts in the case,” Paige said.
Two Lawrence patrol officers filed a report early Tuesday about their investigation into the incident.
The report identified a Chicago man staying at the hotel as the person who saw three Arizona Wildcat players by the machine about 10:40 p.m. Friday night. The witness said Luke Walton appeared to be the lookout while two other players tended to the open machine.
Hotel employees early Saturday morning discovered candy missing and the coin box empty.
One of the other two players was Salim Stoudamire, the man told police. The third player he could not identify. Saturday morning, after the team left for Allen Fieldhouse to play the Jayhawks, the Chicago man reported the incident to hotel management.
