News

Player faces felony charge

University of Wisconsin defensive back Jack Ikegwuonu was arrested Saturday Nov. 25 for residential burglary in Dekalb, Ill.

Lt. Jim Kayes of the Dekalb Police Department said the incident happened around 2 a.m. Ikegwuonu and his brother are charged with a class-one felony, which is punishable by four to 15 years in prison.

According to WISC-TV, the Ikegwuonu brothers tried to steal an Xbox.

However, Kayes said, it is the first time either suspect has been charged with a felony, and it would be unlikely that they would receive the harshest sentence.

"It would be very unusual mainly because the judicial system is flexible enough that if someone is a first-time offender, they're not going to go to the penitentiary the first time they get caught for doing something wrong," Kayes said.

Vince Sweeney, UW senior associate athletic director, said UW Athletics is limiting its comments to a statement released Thursday afternoon.

The statement reads, "We are currently gathering and reviewing the facts of the incident to determine our course of action, which may or may not include suspension under the terms of our student-athlete discipline policy."

Kayes said he does not know of anything missing from the home, which he said was a stand-alone apartment on a street with between 12 and 18 apartments on it.

Kayes added the apartments are all "pretty new."

"It's pretty busy, but it's very densely populated," Kayes said. "We have some burglary there; I would not describe it as being crime-ridden, though."

Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam said incidents like this are newsworthy but it is unfortunate that a similar situation would not acquire as much attention if a non-athlete was the suspect.

"Any time you're an athlete, you're under additional scrutiny … and with that comes additional responsibility to represent the university and to represent the Badgers in a good light."