National Football League

Store's investigation found no evidence employees gave Jameis Winston crab legs

Published Apr. 22, 2015 3:47 p.m. ET

foxsports

An internal investigation conducted after Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston was caught stealing crab legs from a Tallahassee grocery store a year ago found no evidence that Publix employees were in on a scheme to give free food to the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner.

Winston – thought by many to be the top choice in the upcoming NFL Draft – claimed this week that a worker at the store had “hooked us up” for free food, something a Publix official disputed.

And Winston’s statement also caught Florida State administrators off-guard – athletic director Stan Wilcox said the school would investigate to determine whether a violation of NCAA rules prohibiting athletes from receiving “extra benefits” occurred.

That will require determining exactly what happened, and Maria Brous, director of media and community relations for the grocery chain, said an internal investigation found “no corroborating information” to suggest that a worker at the Tallahassee store had provided free food to Winston.

“If he has information that is pertinent to the case and he would like to share that, we would re-open the investigation,” Brous told FOX Sports.

Winston was accused of stealing $32.72 worth of steamed crab legs and crawfish on April 29, 2014, at the Tallahassee supermarket. The incident was recorded on numerous security cameras in the store, and Leon County sheriff’s officers issued a civil citation, which allowed Winston to perform community service and avoid a criminal conviction.

According to sheriff’s office reports, Winston told officers he forgot to pay for the crab legs but didn’t realize his mistake until after he had gotten home. However, the report noted that he made no effort to return to the store.

“Mr. Winston apologized repeatedly and stated he wanted to ‘make it right,’ ” according to the report of the incident.

He was briefly suspended from the FSU baseball team until completing his community service.

This week, in a discussion with Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh on the ESPN show “Draft Academy,” Winston said this:

“Well, a week before, it was my buddy's birthday and we had got a cake. And we met a dude that worked inside Publix and he said, ‘Hey, anytime you come in here, I got you.’ So that day we just walked out and he hooked us up with that.

“And when I came in to get crab legs, I did the same thing and he just gave them to me and I walked out. And someone from inside the store had told the security that I didn’t pay for them. And that’s how the whole thing started.”

Brous said company policy “calls for all customers, including our associates, to pay for all merchandise.”

After the company’s internal investigation, “we were confident that our policies were being executed by the store management team and that we are not in the practice of giving away merchandise to FSU athletes or any other customers.”

Brous also said no action was taken against any Publix employee as a result of the investigation.

Receiving free food would be a potential violation of NCAA rules. NCAA bylaws generally prohibit athletes from receiving any benefit – including discounted or free merchandise – that isn’t available to all students.

Wilcox issued a statement Wednesday after reports about Winston’s comments:

“We have become aware of statements made by Jameis Winston during a recent interview with Jim Harbaugh describing the circumstances of his alleged receipt of food from a local grocery store. The details disclosed by Winston in that interview were not previously known to the University. As is the case with all matters of this type, we will work in partnership with the NCAA to determine whether a violation occurred.”

Brous told FOX Sports that Publix sent a letter detailing the results of its internal investigation to Jim Curry, FSU’s associate athletic director for compliance, last May 19.

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher was asked about the incident on Monday’s spring ACC media conference call.

“If he says it is (true), I guess it is,” Fisher said, according to FOX Sports senior college football reporter and columnist Bruce Feldman.

Fisher added that FSU compliance did look into the incident in 2014 to make sure nothing was going on and concluded it was a totally isolated incident.

In 2013, Winston – then a redshirt freshman seeing his first action – led Florida State to an undefeated season and its first national championship since 1999.

But he also quickly became embroiled in controversy after it was learned that nearly a year earlier he had been accused of rape.

That Dec. 7, 2012, incident occurred at Winston’s off-campus apartment. A Florida State student told police that morning that she was assaulted but did not know her attacker – then, after classes started the next semester she saw the man, got his name when a professor called roll and reported it to detectives.

But the Tallahassee police department investigation was fraught with problems, and the case was shelved for months, then revived and turned over to State Attorney Willie Meggs. Meggs conducted a new investigation but concluded there was not enough evidence to file criminal charges.

Winston, who contended he and the woman had a consensual sexual encounter, was also cleared of wrongdoing by the university.

However, Florida State is the subject of a federal investigation being conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, which is looking at the school’s handling of the incident under the gender-equity law known as Title IX.

The woman has subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against Florida State and a lawsuit in state court against Winston, accusing him of sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.