In January, an arrest warrant was issued for New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte and soon after, he turned himself into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison.
He was charged with Computer Fraud, a felony, along with a misdemeanor count of Gaming Prohibited for Persons under 21. He was released from jail after posting a $600,000 bond later that same day.
With these league issues, the only comment from the Patriots came on the day of his arrest.
“The New England Patriots are aware that Kayshon Boutte is cooperating with Louisiana police regarding their investigation into an underage gambling charge while he was a student at Louisiana State University. I don’t anticipate that we will be providing any additional comments at this time,” the team said in a statement.
But now head coach Jerod Mayo has added more information about Boutte's status, speaking publicly about it for the first time since his arrest.
“We’re continuing to gather information on that. He’s still on the team,” Mayo said. “Hopefully we can continue to develop this player, but really develop him as a man as well going forward.
"I think it’s important to remember some of these guys are very young and they’ve made mistakes in the past. It’s easy to just throw them away but there are certain instances where you’re like, ‘All right, I can can help this guy out.’ And I feel like we have a good player development group there that will definitely help us going forward.”
Boutte is accused of creating an online betting account under a fake name and then proceeded to place illegal bets while he was under the age of 21. During that time, he reportedly earned more than $500,000 in winnings, having placed nearly 9,000 illegal wagers.
The police were reportedly first notified after the online gambling company contacted them because sports wagers were being placed by a prohibited person.
The original report was first reported by WAFB 9 in Baton Rouge,
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