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According to Cleveland County Court records, suspended Oklahoma Sooners safety Will Sunderland has been charged with second-degree burglary. Sunderland was previously handed a misdemeanor charge of concealing stolen property, and it is believed that the two charges are connected. Tyler Palmateer of the Norman Transcript was the first to report the new charge.
BREAKING: OU safety Will Sunderland has now been charged with a felony in Cleveland County: https://t.co/CsL1HSzKve #Sooners pic.twitter.com/7J3JnGBe6R
— Tyler Palmateer (@Tpalmateer83) June 21, 2017
The court affidavit from Sunderland’s original misdemeanor charge alleged that the OU safety sold stolen game systems and equipment to an electronics store for a total of $499.50 back in March. The equipment was stolen from the dorm room of fellow student-athletes. Sunderland pleaded not guilty to the original charge.
As a sophomore 2016, Sunderland recorded 15 tackles, eight of which came against the Texas Longhorns in Dallas. In that same game, Sunderland became a hero by intercepting a Shane Buechele pass deep in the Oklahoma red zone late in the third quarter. Unfortunately, it looks like Sunderland is going to go down as a one-hit wonder at Oklahoma.
This obviously looks terrible for Sunderland, and I don’t think Lincoln Riley has any choice but to let him go if the charges stick. Selling stolen property is bad enough, but if a felony burglary charge isn’t grounds for dismissal then I don’t know what is. The former four-star prospect out of Midwest City has plenty of talent, but it doesn’t seem like the guy has enough between the ears. If he’s is guilty of this crime, he probably doesn’t deserve to play at Oklahoma.