UCLA’s Sciarra Was Arrested

A UCLA quarterback situation already clouded by Matt Moore’s leg injury was further muddled Monday when it was learned that backup John Sciarra was arrested last month in Newport Beach on misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct-public intoxication and giving false information to a police officer.

Sciarra, a sophomore who has thrown only 12 passes in his UCLA career, moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart, behind new starter Drew Olson, after Moore suffered a severe bruise of the upper left tibia in Saturday’s opener at Colorado, an injury expected to sideline him for four to six weeks.

But in light of his arrest, Sciarra could be suspended for Saturday’s game against Illinois, leaving the Bruins dangerously thin at quarterback. Reserve defensive back Marcus Cassel received a one-game suspension for the opener because of his June 28 arrest on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence.

If Olson is injured Saturday night in the Rose Bowl and Sciarra is not available, Coach Karl Dorrell would have to turn to Brian Callahan, a freshman walk-on who is the son of Oakland Raider Coach Bill Callahan, or junior cornerback Matt Ware, who played quarterback at Los Angeles Loyola High but has only dabbled at the position in practice during his three seasons at UCLA.

Unlike the case of Cassel, who informed the Bruin coaching staff of his arrest shortly after it happened, neither UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero nor Dorrell was aware of Sciarra’s arrest until a reporter brought it to Guerrero’s attention Monday afternoon.

“I don’t know anything about it,” Guerrero said. “It would be inappropriate to comment until I talk to the coaches and the player. I will certainly follow up on this with the coaching staff.”

Sciarra spent much of the afternoon meeting with Guerrero, Dorrell and other UCLA athletic administrators, who were trying to gather facts about the case and confer with Sciarra’s attorney and Newport Beach police officials.

Reached on his cellphone in the early evening, Sciarra, when asked whether he had informed the coaches of his arrest, said, “No, I didn’t tell them ... now they know. What happened was....”

At that point, Sciarra said the battery on his phone was about to go dead and told a reporter he would call back. He never did.

Guerrero declined to comment further Monday night, as did Dorrell.

“We are checking out all the information and will decide on an appropriate discipline, probably [today],” UCLA athletic department spokesman Marc Dellins said. “None of us were aware of it.”

Sciarra was arrested Aug. 8 at 1:30 a.m. According to Newport Beach Police Lt. John Klein, officers responded to a call from a store manager claiming Sciarra and another man, 23-year-old Chad Heydorff of La Canada Flintridge, were causing a disturbance.

When officers arrived, they determined that Sciarra and Heydorff were intoxicated and placed them under arrest, but Sciarra “gave an incorrect name,” Klein said. “After the booking process, we determined what his true name was, and he was charged with an added count of providing false information to a police officer.”

The case was presented to the Orange County District Attorney’s office on Aug. 18 and is under review. An arraignment was scheduled for Sept. 22.

“I would want to look at the police report before I make a comment,” said Vincent LaBarbera, Sciarra’s attorney.

Sciarra is a 6-foot-1 sophomore whose father, John Sciarra Sr., was an All-American quarterback who led UCLA to a victory over Ohio State in the 1976 Rose Bowl. Sciarra was a redshirt freshman in 2001 when then-starter Cory Paus failed to inform then-coach Bob Toledo about two convictions for driving under the influence.

The charges came to light just days before the Nov. 23 USC game that season, greatly tarnishing the Bruin program, but Toledo allowed Paus to play anyway, and UCLA lost, 27-0.

A number of off-the-field problems and arrests plagued Toledo in the final years of his UCLA tenure and contributed in part to his firing in December. After Cassel’s arrest came to light last week, Guerrero said he was confident it was the only blemish on the football program since Dorrell took over.

“Since Karl has been here, we’ve had one incident,” Guerrero said last week. “I’m pleased with the way he handled the matter, he did what he had to do, and he wanted to make it known that this isn’t the type of behavior we want in the program. But there isn’t a growing pattern here.”