VandalStore Director John Bales is not losing any sleep over his decision to not press charges on Vandal football players involved in an alleged Aug. 16 shoplifting incident.
“I made a very unbiased process and decision, and I”d do that again,” Bales said of not pressing charges.
Bales said he analyzed the situation as if the football players were any other University of Idaho student. He said he made an independent decision because he did not know the definitive identities of the football players involved until Sept. 9.
In his mind, Bales said he did not press charges because the merchandise was returned to the store in a timely manner and the behavior was stopped almost immediately.
Additionally, Bales said he found out later the students were subjected to disciplinary actions.
“This institution has the people and the process in place to not only take disciplinary actions, but to actually help change some behavior of students that are behaving poorly,” Bales said.
He said there was no pressure or coercion from the Vandal football program and he arrived at the decision independent of the UI Athletic Department.
In cases where there is no intent on returning a product, such as textbooks, Bales said charges are filed.
The day after the Aug. 16 incident, Bales said he saw a short segment of the surveillance video and spoke with Scott McDonald, the former VandalStore general manager who was on-scene during the incident.
That same day, Bales had a conversation with Moscow Police Lt. David Lehmitz who informed him at that time he had one year and a day to press charges.
“Because at that point, I didn”t feel like I had everything I needed to have to make a decent decision,” Bales said of asking Lehmitz for more information.
He said the extra time permitted by law ensured they did not rush the decision not to press charges.
With the actions taken against the players, Bales said he does not foresee the VandalStore pressing charges.
While Bales said it does not excuse the players” actions, there are a number of operational factors the VandalStore can improve.
The event was scheduled to start at 3 p.m., yet the VandalStore started letting in student-athletes into the store at approximately 12:30 p.m., Bales said.
“It was in the spirit of good customer service, but in retrospect, we should not have done that,” Bales said.
He said the VandalStore did not have many staff members on hand during that time and the student-athletes were in part of the store that was dimly lit.
“I do see some improvement in how we conducted that event,” Bales said.
Bales said the VandalStore has hosted special store events for various groups on campus.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at[email protected] or on Twitter @ryantarinelli