May 20, 2013

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Knox H.S. football players charged with burglary

Two star players on the Knox High School football team have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a rash of business burglaries.

In all, 15-burglary counts have been filed against four Knox High School students in juvenile court.

The charges stem from burglaries at four separate businesses dating back to February 17th of this year.

If the cases were waived to adult court, each count would be classified as a class “C” felony, and each would be punishable by a maximum of eight years in prison.

News cameras were often there on the field to catch Knox High School football stars Blake McCan and teammate Kenneth Flores at their best.

Now security cameras have allegedly caught both at their worst.

Security camera footage shows two men in hooded sweatshirts breaking in the back door of the Sandbar at Bass Lake on May 30th, 2008.

The video shows the pair stealing beer by the keg and case. It also shows the men wrestling with—and removing a safe from the back office of the bar.

In court documents witnesses identify the subjects in the video as McCan and Flores.

“The first time they were here, they were here for two hours,” said the owner of the Sandbar, John Lewandowski. “They came in between three and five in the morning, over the summer.”

Lewandowski says the bar has been broken into five times over the summer, and that he and other business owners have paid a price.

Lewandowski claims his insurance premiums have increased by 22-hundred dollars, and that insurance did not cover more than 10-thousand dollars in stolen cash.

Lewandowski now hopes that the students will pay a price as well.

“I think they should be detained, they should face criminal charges just like any other adult should and they shouldn’t receive any preferential treatment because they’re athletes,” said Lewandowski.

The case was filed in juvenile court and remained there today. On Monday of this week all four defendants were released on home detention.

“Supposedly, they’re not bad kids,” said Lewandowski. “They’re football stars and one of them I think is a straight A student…”

But after reviewing the footage from his security cameras, Lewandowski says he hoped officials would realize that “these kids are crooks.”

It was apparently the theft and resale of a 50-inch Panasonic flat screen T.V. that broke the case.

The new owner figured out the set was stolen and he notified police, according to court documents.

The Knox Community School system would not comment on the status of the defendants as students or athletes due to privacy concerns.

Other sources indicate that the teens are back in school but aren’t expected to play football Friday night.

In addition to Flores and McCan, court documents indicate that 16-year old Dominic White has been charged in connection with the case. White faces three counts of burglary. 16 year old Ethan Coad faces two counts of burglary.


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