UCLA basketball players under investigation for shoplifting in China

UCLA beat Georgia Tech 63-60 in the teams' season opener on Saturday during the Pacific-12 China Game in Shanghai. While the Bruins scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles on Saturday night, three freshman players of the team will remain in China under ongoing police investigation over suspicion of shoplifting.

On Tuesday, three UCLA men’s basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were arrested in east China’s Hangzhou City of Zhejiang Province for allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store, ESPN and Los Angeles Times report, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the incident.

UCLA men's basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Cody Reily and Jalen Hill (L-R).

The UCLA team arrived in China last Sunday and traveled to Hangzhou to visit the campus of e-commerce giant Alibaba, sponsor of the annual Pac-12 games in China.

The Bruins stayed at a hotel next to a high-end shopping center, where surveillance footage caught Ball, Riley and Hill shoplifting from three stores, according to ESPN’s source.

The shopping center next to the hotel where UCLA's team stayed.

The three players were taken by local police for questioning and were released on bail early Wednesday morning. However, as the team went on to Shanghai for Saturday’s game, Ball, Riley and Hill were required to stay at their hotel “until the legal process is over.”

The University of California, Los Angeles, declined to confirm the arrests but said it was “aware of a situation involving UCLA student-athletes in Hangzhou, China.”

“The university is cooperating fully with local authorities on this matter, and we have no further comment at this time,” UCLA Athletics said in a statement provided by spokeswoman Shana Wilson.

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement the conference was “disappointed by any situation that detracts from the positive student-athlete educational and cultural experience that this week is about.”

Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott (C) speaks at Pac-12 China Game’s press conference on November 8.

“Whether in the United States or abroad, we expect our student-athletes to uphold the highest standards. We will continue to closely monitor the situation,” he said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Wednesday the Chinese government had reported the case to the US side in accordance with consular agreements.

“China is handling this case in accordance with the law and will guarantee the lawful rights in accordance with the law of those involved in this case,” she said.

Three players from Georgia Tech were also questioned by local authorities on Tuesday at their hotel in Hangzhou, but they were later determined not involved in the incident and released by the police, Georgia Tech athletics spokesman Mike Flynn said in a statement.

Before Saturday’s game, Scott said that “there's nothing new” about the investigation, ESPN reports.

“We're monitoring the situation and staying in close contact with the students… and we hope the situation resolves itself soon," he said.

(REUTERS)