It should have been a quiet Christmas weekend for Virginia Tech ahead of next week's trip to New Orleans for a Sugar Bowl showdown with Michigan on Jan. 3. Instead, the Hokies will be making the trip shorthanded after kicker Cody Journell was arrested along with two other men Wednesday night for allegedly breaking into the home of a Tech basketball player in a drug-related dispute.
Blacksburg Police were called just before 10 p.m. Wednesday night to respond to an altercation at the home of Dorenzo Hudson, a three-year starter on the Hokie basketball team. Journell, 20, was arrested along with another Virginia Tech student, 21-year-old Matthew Brady, and Matthew Dunton, 23. All three are accused of a Class 2 felony for allegedly entering a home with a weapon, with the intent to commit larceny, assault and battery, or another felony.
Warrants filed in a Montgomery County court confirm that the break-in apparently involved drugs, but don't specify what type of drugs, the amount in question or the specific nature of the dispute. The three defendants appeared in court this afternoon for a preliminary hearing, where they were accused of pulling a gun during the confrontation, but the witness "on which the gun was drawn" has not responded to messages from prosecutors. At one point in the proceedings, Brady reportedly broke into tears, only to be told by Judge Randall Duncan "crying is not going to help you."
Dunton and Brady are listed as roommates in an apartment in the 600 block of Lee Street — the same street where the invasion took place — and both looked the worse for wear in their mugshots: Dunton had a scrape on his nose and a large bandage wrapped around his head, and Brady had large abrasion beneath his swollen right eye. Journell's mugshot (above) doesn't convey any signs of a scuffle.
Per university policy, any Virginia Tech athlete accused of a felony is automatically suspended pending resolution of the charges. Journell, a redshirt sophomore from Ripplemead, Va., hit 14 of 17 field goal attempts with a long of 42 yards this season and was voted honorable mention All-ACC. Hudson, a fifth-year senior from Charlotte, N.C., was a third-team all-conference pick in 2010, but sat out the 2010-11 season due to a foot injury. He's currently second on the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game. He has not been charged.
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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.