18-year-old University of Alabama basketball player Devonta Pollard, and six other people were indicted on federal charges they conspired to kidnap 6-year-old Jashayla Hopson, a young girl from an Mississippi elementary school, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors said that Pollard's mother, Jesse Mae Brown Pollard, led a scheme to kidnap the girl to pressure the child's mother in a land dispute, news reports said. Authorities said at one point kidnappers demanded a ransom set at $50,000.
If convicted, the Crimson Tide player Pollard could face up to five years in prison, and his mother could face a potential life sentence.
Pollard's mother had been initially charged with Hopson's kidnapping, and FBI agents said they believe Devonta Pollard knew of his mother's plans to kidnap Hopson, who is her cousin's daughter. Hopson was allegedly taken from her Scooba, Mississippi elementary school in April, and was found unharmed the next day, news reports said.
From there, Pollard gave a ride to a woman that dropped Hopson off in rural Mississippi, according to the Tuscaloosa News. Pollard appeared before a U.S. Magistrate judge Wednesday on conspiracy to commit kidnapping charges, and his bond was set at $10,000.
Jesse Mae Pollard reportedly had met Shamarious Ruffin, who took the girl out of school, earlier that day. The two took Hopson in a rental car, and traveled to Bessemer, Alabama where they checked into a hotel and bought a burner phone. Devonta Pollard later dropped Shaquayla Johnigan off at the hotel.
Devonta Pollard had initially been held in the Neshoba Regional Correction Facility, but has been transported since he now faces federal charges.
Pollard graduated from Kemper County High School, and was a McDonald's All-American and the Gatorade Player of the Year in Mississippi. Pollard was not practicing with the team after the season's end, and was rumored to be considering a transfer to East Mississippi Commnity College, sports news sites reported.
