Tray Matthews among 4 Bulldogs arrested on eve of spring practice (Updated)

Safety Tray Matthews was among four Georgia players that were arrested Monday evening and charged with multiple counts of theft by deception. Matthews was booked into the Clarke County Jail just after 9 p.m. on Monday and charged with three misdemeanor accounts.

Others arrested included wide receiver Uriah LeMay along with defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor and James DeLoach. All four players bonded out late Monday night and there has been no comment from school officials as of yet.

Since cutting ties with Josh Harvey-Clemons the Bulldogs had enjoyed a somewhat quiet summer off the field. Georgia is scheduled to open spring practice on Tuesday afternoon.

Obviously Matthews is the biggest contributor among this group. He started six games as a true freshman and once again figures to be a big part of the Bulldogs' defense especially with the departure of Harvey-Clemons. Taylor appeared in 10 games in a backup role last season while DeLoach found his way into five games.

Update:

Seth Emerson reports that the alleged victim is the UGA Athletics Department so we are most likely looking at something involving the sale of textbooks or the like. Mark Richt issued a statement on the arrests earlier this morning:

Mark Richt statement on arrest of four Georgia football players: "I’m aware of the situation and it will be handled in an appropriate way."

— Marc Weiszer (@marcweiszer) March 18, 2014

Update No. 2

Seth Emerson reports the details of the arrest are as follows:

The players are charged with what amounts to double-dipping: Each allegedly took normal stipend checks from UGA and deposited them via a mobile app, and then also cashed them somewhere else, according to UGA chief of police Jimmy Williamson.

Marc Weiszer reports that Matthews, Taylor and DeLoach deposited checks with a mobile app and then went to store to cash the same check. Weiszer also reports that LeMay cashed a discarded check that was issued to another Georgia athlete.