College Basketball

A Cleveland State University official says a basketball player accused of rape should never have been recruited.

Jan P. Muczyk, Cleveland State’s senior vice president for planning and operations, said former basketball Coach Kevin Mackey was not cautious in recruiting Roy Williams.

“I don’t expect an FBI investigation of every athletic recruit, but this kid was a media star on the West Coast for a while (because of his status as a murder suspect),” Muczyk said. Williams, 25, a 6-8 transfer from Compton College, was questioned by California authorities last year about the suspicious death of 19-year-old Compton College student Lina Aldridge, whose body was found in the trunk of a car in July of 1989. The cause of death was not determined; Williams was not charged with any crime.

Meanwhile, an official with the Juvenile Court of Los Angeles County declined to confirm published reports that Williams was found guilty of murder in 1981. He reportedly served nearly five years in California youth institutions.