CSUN Player’s Hearing Set on Arms Charge

A preliminary hearing date of Dec. 12 has been set for Ray Boulden, a reserve linebacker on the Cal State Northridge football team who has been charged with felony possession of a loaded firearm on state university property.

Boulden, 20, was arrested Nov. 28 at the University Park Apartments in Northridge after campus police found a loaded shotgun in his room, a spokesman for the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said. Boulden entered a plea of not guilty at his arraignment Monday in San Fernando Municipal Court.

If convicted, Boulden faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison. His bail was set at $5,000 and later was increased by $558 because of two disturbing-the-peace warrants and a traffic warrant. He remained in custody in Los Angeles County Jail on Wednesday.

Boulden, a 6-foot, 220-pound junior, was a backup inside linebacker for the Matadors. He was not credited with a tackle during the past season. Police say they arrested Boulden after receiving a report of a man carrying a gun entering the University Park Apartments on the 9800 block of Lindley Avenue.

Police say Boulden at first denied having a gun and agreed to let officers search his room. When police confronted him with the shotgun, Boulden identified it as his, police said.

Meanwhile, a preliminary hearing for two members of the football team charged with assault in connection with a brawl at an on-campus apartment complex was delayed until Feb. 5.

The hearing for Ken Jackson and Tom Berry, scheduled to begin Wednesday in San Fernando Municipal Court, was continued in order to settle the case before trial, said Donald Goldsobel, Berry’s attorney.

Jackson, 21, of Stockton and Berry, 23, of La Palma are each free on $12,000 bail. Both have pleaded not guilty to one felony count of battery and two misdemeanor counts of battery as well as one count of resisting arrest.

The charges stem from a Sept. 14 altercation between the two men and campus police and security officers outside the University Park Complex.