Former player arrested in UNC sports agent probe
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. -- A former UNC player has been arrested and charged with violating North Carolina's state sports agent law.
Defensive back Chris Hawkins appeared in court Tuesday afternoon in Orange County.
According to arrest warrants made public Tuesday, Hawkins faces two charges of trying to induce former Tar Heels defensive end Robert Quinn to sign a contract with him in 2010 -- by giving Quinn $13,700 in cash, and by helping him sell game-used equipment for another $1,700. Quinn now plays for the St. Louis Rams.
Hawkins, 32, also is charged with intentionally initiating contact with former UNC defensive back Jabari Price in 2013 via Instagram without being a registered agent, and of intentionally failing to register as an athlete agent.
Hawkins, arrested Monday, is being held Tuesday in the Orange County Jail on $300,000 bond. It was not immediately known if the former defensive back at North Carolina and Marshall has an attorney.
North Carolina is one of 43 states with a sports agent law. Hawkins is the sixth person to be arrested in the North Carolina Secretary of State's long-running probe connected to improper benefits for Tar Heels football players. That probe began in summer 2010 amid an NCAA investigation into the program.
UNC released the following statement Tuesday:
Jabari Price, while a member of the University of North Carolina football team, participated in the University's Agent and Advisor Program, which provides important information and established protocols about appropriate contact with agents, advisors and representatives. This program has been offered by the Department of Athletics since 2013. An individual contacted Mr. Price in the fall of 2013 and he immediately reported this contact to the Department of Athletics. The Department promptly alerted the Secretary of State's office and it continues to support state authorities on the matter. We thank Mr. Price for providing information about potential violations of our policies.
Robert Quinn was a member of the UNC football team from 2008-2010. He was declared permanently ineligible by the NCAA in 2010 and was formally disassociated from the University in November 2013.
Five people were indicted in September 2013, including Georgia-based agent Terry Watson, though prosecutor Jim Woodall later dropped the charge against a former UNC tutor charged in the case.
The NCAA suspended current Cincinnati Bengals receiver A.J. Green five years ago when he was at Georgia for selling his Independence Bowl jersey for $1,000 to Hawkins, saying at the time that it regarded Hawkins as an agent.
Dick Baddour, North Carolina's athletic director at the time, said then that Hawkins, who had been seen around the team's facility periodically at the time, was no longer welcome around the program.
