Antelope Valley Football Players Charged in Burglary

Three Antelope Valley College football players--all former standouts at Quartz Hill High--have been charged with the burglary of a Lancaster sporting goods store, authorities said Wednesday.

Selves Smith, 19, of Lancaster, David Nelson and John Sokalski, both 20 and of Quartz Hill, were arraigned Monday on burglary charges in the April 30 burglary at The Outdoorsman in the 44100 block of North 20th Street West, said Deputy Chris Marshman of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The trio were standouts on the 1990 Quartz Hill team that was 11-3 and lost in the Southern Section Division I final. All now attend Antelope Valley College and are enrolled in an off-season football class.

The arrests were made after a witness saw a vehicle at the scene of the burglary and contacted deputies about 1 a.m., Marshman said. At about 3 a.m., Nelson was pulled over at 25th Street West and Avenue J. in a car fitting the witness’s description and arrested. That led deputies to a Quartz Hill home in the 44100 block of Engle Way where Smith and Sokalski were arrested.

Smith and Nelson are free on bail. Sokalski has been re-arrested on suspicion of burglarizing two other Antelope Valley businesses in April. Sokalski was in custody at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles.

Smith, a starter at linebacker and fullback, was named Valley lineman of the year in 1990 by The Times. Nelson gained 974 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, and Sokalski had four interceptions.

“They were kids that were participating in the off-season practice. They have not played a down for us and they’re not part of the program now,” Antelope Valley College Coach Brent Carder said.

The arrests mark the second time in the past two months that Antelope Valley College football players have been charged with crimes. Last month, David Brown, 20, Bradley Cole, 21, and Gene Washington, 23, were ordered to stand trial on charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor after an incident in October involving a 14-year-old girl.