Incident handled improperly, players say
Officials stand by decision to fully investigate fraud
By Kelly Morris and Jaime Walker
Staff Reporters

Several women’s basketball players say a situation that led to Wednesday’s surrender of sophomore forward Tiffany Evans to authorities on a fraud warrant was mishandled by athletics administrators. They say it could also hurt the program for seasons to come.

Evans	Safaritova

However head coach Jeff Mittie and Athletic Director Eric Hyman said Thursday they dealt with the internal investigation, which was turned over to campus officials April 11, in a timely and appropriate manner.

Reports indicated Evans had met with a judge and the case had been given to the Fort Worth District Attorney’s office. Evans appeared before a magistrate Wednesday in connection with a fraudulent use of identifying information warrant involving senior teammate Kati Safaritova, a police official said Thursday.

Efforts to contact Evans Thursday were unsuccessful.

Seven players, who spoke on the condition of confidentiality because they said they feared repercussions from team and university officials, alleged the situation was covered up to maintain team morale during conference play and to keep Evans on the court.

Athletics Compliance officer Marc Evans said TCU was not in danger of any NCAA sanctions. He said the NCAA only regulates cases in which drug use or gambling are suspected.

Four of the players interviewed said the case clearly shows Mittie has a tendency to show favoritism to certain players.

“If you are an ordinary player he might just call you a troublemaker and anything you say would go in one ear and out the other,” one player said.

“If you are a player like (Evans) and you told him the sun was white, he would believe you.”

Mittie would not comment on any of the specific allegations in this story, but he said the process was handled in as timely a manner as possible as the events developed. He said he “stands by his decision” to suspend Evans from team workouts.

Hyman said athletic officials wanted to review the merit and substance of the case before notifying other university authorities.

“The fact-finding process takes time,” he said. “We want to insure we have all the information and that it has credence before we move forward.”

Susan Adams, associate vice chancellor and dean of Campus Life, said she understands student-athletes have unique obligations to their teams but that the university treats all students equally in disciplinary situations.

Adams said no team members contacted Campus Life before athletic officials made the office aware of the situation.

However, some players said Safaritova told them she thought her only recourse was to continue the police investigation. They said athletic officials ignored her plight.

“They wanted this thing swept under the rug and we all knew it,” one player said.

Players said they felt badly for Evans but supported Safaritova throughout the investigation.

“If Evans told me the truth in the beginning, I would have stopped the proceedings,” Safaritova said.

According to the police report, Evans admitted during an April 8 interrogation to using Safaritova’s identity and credit cards without consent.

A series of interviews with players, university officials and those close to the case reveals the following timeline:

• Feb. 11: Safaritova confronts Evans and Evans’ then boyfriend, Russell May, about the unauthorized charges on her credit card and the fraudulent use of one of her personal checks. At this time, May admits to use of the credit cards, but says he did not know the credit card use was done so without Safaritova’s consent.

• Feb. 16: May, in an effort to help Evans pay back the accrued debt, applies for a $2,000 bank loan.

• Feb. 21: Safaritova tells Mittie she suspects Evans, then her roommate, and May are connected to unauthorized charges on her credit card and the fraudulent use of one of her personal checks.

• Feb. 24: Women’s basketball team concludes its regular season play.

• Feb. 25: Safaritova files an incident report with Fort Worth police. She reports an unauthorized check for $118 was written at a local grocery store.

• Feb. 26: May delivers a $2,000 check to a university official at the Daniel-Meyer Coliseum ticket booth based on information he received from Evans. Later that day, Safaritova says she was called to Mittie’s office, where she says she accepted the check.

• Feb. 27: Safaritova says she tore up the check and chose to press charges because she thought coaches handled the investigation inappropriately. Players say a team meeting was held this day where allegations were discussed. Some players report they were told not to comment on the ongoing internal investigation.

• March 2-3: The team competes in Conference USA tournament.

• March 4 or 5: May secretly tapes Evans confessing her involvement.

• March 9-17: Students dismissed for Spring Break. The team competes in the NCAA tournament.

• March 16: May writes a letter to team officials in which he includes a copy of the tape. He says in the letter he hopes Evans will seek help.

• March 19: Safaritova informs police her credit card statement shows $700 in unauthorized charges.

• Between March 19-April 5: Safaritova tells police an additional credit card had been purchased in her name. May says $1,378 was charged to that account.

• April 5: Safaritova and her roommate Shirley Cauley are deposed by investigators.

• April 8: Detectives separately interview Evans and May.

• April 11: University officials say they are first made aware of the case.

• April 24: Evans surrenders to authorities and a police official says the report indicates the case has gone to the Fort Worth District Attorney’s Office.

Kelly Morris and Jaime Walker
skiffletters@tcu.edu

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TCU Daily Skiff © 2002