LiAngelo Ball, UCLA Teammates Could Face 3–10 Years In Prison After Suspicion Of Shoplifting
The three Bruins could be detained for more than a month without bail.
UPDATE: On Monday morning, SportsCenter reported that the three player have been released on bail:
“Three UCLA men’s basketball players — including LiAngelo Ball, the younger brother of Los Angeles Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball — were released on bail early Wednesday morning in Hangzhou, China, after being arrested for allegedly shoplifting Tuesday afternoon, a source told ESPN.”
LiAngelo Ball, Lonzo Ball’s brother and Lavar Ball’s son, who am I kidding, you know who this guy is. He’s a freshman at UCLA and two of his teammates, Cody Riley and Jalen Hall, were reportedly arrested in China on Tuesday for suspicion of shoplifting. The Bruins are in China to take on Georgia Tech to tip off their season on Friday.
Yahoo Sports has learned from a lawyer that the three players could face three to 10 years of jail time if convicted:
If standard practices are applied, the three UCLA basketball players — including LiAngelo Ball — arrested Tuesday in mainland China under suspicion of shoplifting face between three and 10 years in prison if convicted, according a lawyer familiar with Chinese law who communicated with Yahoo Sports on the condition of anonymity because he doesn’t want to speak out about the Chinese government.
The three men could be detained for more than a month without American-style bail before local prosecutors even decide whether to press charges, according to William Nee, a Hong Kong-based researcher of the Chinese court system for Amnesty International.
While it is unknown exactly what the players are being detained for, Chinese law calls for a fine and between three to 10 years in prison for anyone convicted of “robbing public or private property using force, coercion, or other methods.”
Authorities are under the suspicion that Ball and his two teammates shoplifted from a Louis Vuitton store near the hotel the team was staying in. According to the Yahoo report, authorities questions players from both UCLA and Georgia Tech, but the three Bruins were the only three taken away.
This is an absolutely bizarre story. I mean, these kids could be locked up abroad for quite some time. Could it end up being absolutely nothing? Sure. But they could also SIT IN A CHINESE PRISON for a very, very lengthy amount of time after allegedly snatching some goods from Louis. Hell, they could be there for a MONTH before a move is even made by prosecutors. I know absolutely nothing about the prison environment in China, but I’m going to go ahead and guess that it’s not all that great, ya know, a lot like American prison. It’s probably not too fun.
LiAngelo is without question the lesser known of the three brothers, or maybe he’s just the quietest and actually the only normal one, but maybe this was a step to get his name out in the news. Maybe not the best choice though, maybe not.
