Piggie Enters Guilty Plea in Case Involving Rush

The legal entanglement that cost UCLA one of its best basketball players much of last season and that JaRon Rush said prompted him to leave the Bruins early for the NBA took a major step toward closure Tuesday when former AAU coach Myron Piggie pleaded guilty to one felony and one misdemeanor in Kansas City, Mo.

The plea bargain averts a summer trial that likely would have required Rush to testify about his long relationship with Piggie and might even have meant appearances by UCLA officials to discuss the school’s recruitment of Rush, a major part of the original 11-count indictment of Piggie. Instead, the government will move to dismiss the other nine charges as part of the plea bargain.

Piggie, once a nationally known summer-league coach based in Kansas City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner to one felony count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and a misdemeanor count of failing to file a federal income tax return. He could face a maximum of five years in prison without parole and a fine of $25,000 on the conspiracy charge and up to one year and $100,000 on the tax count.

U.S. Attorney Steve Hill, whose pursuit of a case normally handled by the NCAA was criticized as being motivated by publicity and political ambition, said Piggie admitted to scheming to defraud UCLA, Duke, Missouri and Oklahoma State, their conferences and the NCAA.

The charges stemmed from Piggie’s long involvement with players on his traveling summer team, including such prominent players as Corey Maggette, Mike Miller and the Rush brothers, JaRon and Kareem. UCLA guard Earl Watson, also a member, never came under scrutiny.

Hill said Piggie acknowledged cash payments totaling $35,550 to the Rush brothers, Korleone Young, Maggette and Andre Williams between 1996 and 1999. Federal prosecutors claimed that by paying the players, Piggie admitted depriving the schools, the conferences and the NCAA of their right to the honest services of the players.

The charge of mail fraud comes because the players sent their respective letters of intent to the schools by mail. The income tax count involved the 1998 tax year.

Dismissed will be the three counts of felony mail fraud, one of felony wire fraud, three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return and two felony counts of interstate transport of fraudulently obtained funds.

Two unrelated indictments against Piggie were returned under seal April 12 by a federal grand jury, with one of the counts, illegal possession of a firearm, also being dismissed.

No date has been set for sentencing. Piggie, who has a prior felony conviction, remains in custody without bond.

JaRon Rush was suspended for 24 games last season after his grand jury testimony in the case revealed the improper relationship with Piggie and allegations that he took money from an agent. When Rush announced earlier this month that he was making himself available for the NBA draft, he said part of the motivation was to get away from the specter of the investigation.

“It was very frustrating,” Rush said. “It was very hard what the NCAA did to me. I felt like I just couldn’t handle it anymore. . . . If it hadn’t happened, I think I would have come back for my junior year.”

UCLA officials, who had no role in the criminal investigation, could not be reached for comment.