An Alleged Adopt-a-Star Plan Adds a New Twist : Investigation: Report says Washington booster hoped to skirt rules against player benefits by bringing South Torrance standout into his home.

While the charges brought against the University of Washington’s football program last week by the Pacific 10 Conference generally reflect issues that first came to light in the media months ago, the conference’s report does add some new twists to the case.

One is the recruiting saga of USC wide receiver Johnnie Morton, who rejected the Huskies when he came out of South Torrance High in 1989.

According to the conference’s report, which was made public Friday, Morton claims he was led to believe that, if he attended Washington, he would be adopted by a Husky booster, Seattle businessman Herb Mead.

Morton is quoted in the report as saying the idea was presented to him by Mead’s son, Clint, a Washington student at the time.

According to Morton’s testimony, the plan would have allowed the Mead family to provide him with benefits that, under normal circumstances, are prohibited by NCAA rules.

Contacted Saturday, Morton, who is entering his senior season at USC, declined comment.

Clint Mead has denied the allegation, according to the Pac-10 report. Herb Mead, in an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, called the matter “an incredible misunderstanding,” adding, “unfortunately, we didn’t take it very seriously at first.”

Also spelled out in the report is an allegation that Clint Mead led Morton’s girlfriend at the time, Danielle Nancarrow of Torrance, to believe that she would be provided a job and an apartment with a roommate if she chose to accompany Morton to Washington.

Clint Mead denied making such offers.

Another new aspect of the case brought out by the report is the involvement, at least peripherally, of the Washington basketball program.

In addition to the alleged football violations, which are broken into 24 areas, the report lists three former Washington basketball players among those who received pay for work not performed on jobs arranged by James W. Kenyon, a Los Angeles real estate developer and prominent Husky booster.

Five current or former Washington football players also are cited in the report as having had no-show jobs provided by Kenyon.

According to the report, two of the former Husky basketball players alleged to have been compensated by Kenyon for work not performed are Doug Meekins and Ron Caldwell, both of whom attended Crenshaw High before enrolling at Washington.

Meekins told investigators he received $400 per week for a summer job arranged by Kenyon in 1988, but rarely showed up for work. Meekins testified that, during his first week on the job, he was told by Kenyon that it wasn’t necessary to work every day.

The Huskies’ second-leading scorer as a senior in 1991-92, Meekins was arrested and charged with selling cocaine last November in Seattle. The charges recently were dismissed.

Caldwell, whose Husky career was diminished because of a knee injury, recalled having a similar conversation with Kenyon, according to the report. The former player told investigators he received paychecks of $400 per week during the summers of 1987 and ‘88, but worked only a minimal number of hours because he was taking junior college classes at the same time.

In a letter to the Pac-10 released with the report, Kenyon’s attorney, Patrick Walsh, said his client will “vigorously dispute” the charges. Walsh also berated the conference for its investigation.

Wrote Walsh: “Many of the student-athletes involved in these charges come from South-Central Los Angeles, where jobs are not plentiful in the best of times. If the conference is going to punish Jim Kenyon for providing legitimate jobs because the conference thinks Jim should have done something differently to make sure every employee worked hard enough to satisfy the conference, then Jim and people like him will be very reluctant to provide any jobs at all.”

The Pac-10 Compliance and Enforcement Committee is scheduled to hear the case Aug. 9 and 10.