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Gontarek Arrested & Suspended


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University at Albany football wide receiver Josh Gontarek was arrested Monday afternoon after he threw marijuana out of a window of a residence hall on campus, according to the police report obtained today.

UAlbany football coach Greg Gattuso suspended Gontarek indefinitely on Tuesday.

"University police found Gontarek in possession of 10.2 aggregate grams of marijuana, which he tried to conceal by throwing it out of the window, the report said.

Gontarek was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation, and conceal/alter/destroy physical evidence, a Class E felony"

So this kid made a stupid decision, got scared and threw a small amount of pot out of his dorm window, and they charge him with a felony? Ridiculous.

What's wrong with people on this board...purple colored glasses?

 

He broke the law and he is getting punished for it. Where is the issue? School police did what they were suppose to do, enforce the law. Not sure why so many people have an issue with it. Being stupid doesn't mean it's okay if it's illegal.

 

If you want a thread on legalizing pot or when something should be a felony or misdemeanor that may be for a different forum lol. Well we will have a law school sometime..maybe we can start a law school sub forum :) ..half joking.

 

Here we go again...MsGDG getting "upset" at people. What's wrong with people on this forum? Nothing. It's called having an opinion. The only one who ever seems to get a rise out of people is you. Oy vey *rolls eyes*

 

No one has purple colored glasses. It's just a stupid thing to ruin someones life with a freakin felony for something so ridiculous. Whether this was star athlete or a normal student on campus, classifying this as a felony is moronic. That is what UAlbany09 was stating.

 

Should he be punished? Sure. Should he be suspended? Absolutely. Should his record have a felony on it for something that'll likely be legal within 5-10 years (and is legal in other parts of the country already)? ABSOFREAKINLUTELY NOT. Are you kidding me? You're telling me the cops don't have some leeway? For some reason, it sounds like they threw the book at him so to speak while making the arrest and charged him with as much as they could.

 

And no, we don't need a law forum. We need a freakin off topic section like 99% of the forums on the planet (Why do we not have one? Beating a dead horse here, I know. Half joking...or am I?).

 

EDIT: Now that we know he was in his dorm when this happened, I wonder why the police were there. My thoughts: 1) either he was making a lot of noise and his dorm mates called in a noise complaint and then this stuff happened or 2) someone called it in specifically for the weed. What else could you be possibly doing 'illegally' in your dorm room? Not like he was speeding, driving recklessly, etc. and got pulled over for that first like Sheldon Richardson of the NY Jets.

Edited by Ilko
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University at Albany football wide receiver Josh Gontarek was arrested Monday afternoon after he threw marijuana out of a window of a residence hall on campus, according to the police report obtained today.

UAlbany football coach Greg Gattuso suspended Gontarek indefinitely on Tuesday.

"University police found Gontarek in possession of 10.2 aggregate grams of marijuana, which he tried to conceal by throwing it out of the window, the report said.

Gontarek was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation, and conceal/alter/destroy physical evidence, a Class E felony"

So this kid made a stupid decision, got scared and threw a small amount of pot out of his dorm window, and they charge him with a felony? Ridiculous.

What's wrong with people on this board...purple colored glasses?

 

He broke the law and he is getting punished for it. Where is the issue? School police did what they were suppose to do, enforce the law. Not sure why so many people have an issue with it. Being stupid doesn't mean it's okay if it's illegal.

 

If you want a thread on legalizing pot or when something should be a felony or misdemeanor that may be for a different forum lol. Well we will have a law school sometime..maybe we can start a law school sub forum :) ..half joking.

This... How is this even a discussion? He broken state law, ncaa rules, school policy... Go tick every box. Now he has to pay the price

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University at Albany football wide receiver Josh Gontarek was arrested Monday afternoon after he threw marijuana out of a window of a residence hall on campus, according to the police report obtained today.

UAlbany football coach Greg Gattuso suspended Gontarek indefinitely on Tuesday.

"University police found Gontarek in possession of 10.2 aggregate grams of marijuana, which he tried to conceal by throwing it out of the window, the report said.

Gontarek was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation, and conceal/alter/destroy physical evidence, a Class E felony"

So this kid made a stupid decision, got scared and threw a small amount of pot out of his dorm window, and they charge him with a felony? Ridiculous.

What's wrong with people on this board...purple colored glasses?

 

He broke the law and he is getting punished for it. Where is the issue? School police did what they were suppose to do, enforce the law. Not sure why so many people have an issue with it. Being stupid doesn't mean it's okay if it's illegal.

 

If you want a thread on legalizing pot or when something should be a felony or misdemeanor that may be for a different forum lol. Well we will have a law school sometime..maybe we can start a law school sub forum :) ..half joking.

 

Here we go again...MsGDG getting "upset" at people. What's wrong with people on this forum? Nothing. It's called having an opinion. The only one who ever seems to get a rise out of people is you. Oy vey *rolls eyes*

 

No one has purple colored glasses. It's just a stupid thing to ruin someones life with a freakin felony for something so ridiculous. Whether this was star athlete or a normal student on campus, classifying this as a felony is moronic. That is what UAlbany09 was stating.

 

Should he be punished? Sure. Should he be suspended? Absolutely. Should his record have a felony on it for something that'll likely be legal within 5-10 years (and is legal in other parts of the country already)? ABSOFREAKINLUTELY NOT. Are you kidding me? You're telling me the cops don't have some leeway? For some reason, it sounds like they threw the book at him so to speak while making the arrest and charged him with as much as they could.

 

And no, we don't need a law forum. We need a freakin off topic section like 99% of the forums on the planet (Why do we not have one? Beating a dead horse here, I know. Half joking...or am I?).

 

EDIT: Now that we know he was in his dorm when this happened, I wonder why the police were there. My thoughts: 1) either he was making a lot of noise and his dorm mates called in a noise complaint and then this stuff happened or 2) someone called it in specifically for the weed. What else could you be possibly doing 'illegally' in your dorm room? Not like he was speeding, driving recklessly, etc. and got pulled over for that first like Sheldon Richardson of the NY Jets.

 

 

Ah yes, here we go again who said I was upset. I'm just pointing out i think your opinion is wrong.

Edited by MsGDG
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Lost in all of this is the fact that he's just a KID! Kids make mistakes...they need to learn from them and move on. Yes, he should face the consequences for his actions but THE PENALTY DOES NOT FIT THE CRIME. This should not be a felony charge!!!! He didn't drive drunk. He didn't assault anyone or cause harm to anyone. He didn't destroy property. Hell, he wasn't even selling drugs. He was smoking a joint and panicked when the cops showed up, so he threw it out of the window. It's such a minor offense that many states are legalizing its use, and even the NYPD publicly stated that they wont even bother enforcing the law anymore for personal possession http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/nyc-may-stop-making-arrests-for-small-amounts-of-marijuana/

 

Here's an excerpt:

Under the new policy, people busted for possessing 25 grams or less of pot — a violation under New York law — will no longer be cuffed, hauled off to a police station, fingerprinted and booked.

 

Yes, according to NYS this is considered a felony charge...the result of archaic Rockefeller Drug Laws that have destroyed millions of lives...but the campus cops could have and should have exercised discretion...like, I don't know, THE LARGEST AND MOST RESPECTED POLICE FORCE IN THE NATION IS DOING!

 

So what is the net result of all this? Indefinite suspension. Likely loss of scholarship. Legal fees incurred by his family to keep him out of prison. High probability of this staying on his record and affecting career opportunities in the future. All for smoking a joint? Do you people honestly believe that this is a reasonable punishment?

Edited by madDOG
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I would refer back to Dane96's post. It's certainly not uncommon for mistakes to be made in our youth. Most people are just lucky enough not to get caught when they make them. At most institutions at our level scholarship athletes are held to a higher standard than the general student population. Their class attendence, grades, etc. are monitored closely and they know they are always under scrutiny. It's one of the prices they pay to have the scholarship. I hope this all turns out well for Josh and he gets back on the team sooner than later. In the world we now live in this can haunt you for a long time. Every prospective employer will see this incident when the google his name. It's no small thing as no small thing gets missed anymore.

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I think most are jumping to conclusions. We're puttingthe cart in front of the horse right now.

 

In our present society everything usually gets plead down, so why not just wait for this to play out.

 

If he catches a break this could wind up being an eye opener for him and he may think before he does things that could put him in a vulnerable position next time.

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I think most are jumping to conclusions. We're puttingthe cart in front of the horse right now.

 

In our present society everything usually gets plead down, so why not just wait for this to play out.

 

If he catches a break this could wind up being an eye opener for him and he may think before he does things that could put him in a vulnerable position next time.

 

Especially for a first time offender...

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The possession charge is minor and as noted it is not a crime in NYS. The tampering is more serious but he will not plea to a felony. The problem is can he jump two classes to a violation so that the records can be sealed. That is not easy in most courts. The young man has to be a wreck at this point. However, whatever punishment he receives, he has earned.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Since his suspension we have gone 0-3 and been outscored 113-7 in those three games.

I'm sure he plays a huge role in just opening up the offense so they can't double team Harris or pack the box against Croskey. He's arguably our biggest offensive weapon.

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