Sticky Situation Entangles Darling Cougars Football Co-Captain Accused Of Damaging Machine
In January, Washington State University football co-captain James Darling was all apologies as he pleaded guilty to reckless driving, a charge reduced from driving under the influence of alcohol.
“It was stupid,” he said. “I learned a lot from it. It won’t happen again.”
Darling was less contrite Tuesday when asked about pleading guilty to charges that - while on probation for the driving conviction - he and a friend damaged a $5,985 gumball machine that they took from an Okanogan County restaurant last month.
“I didn’t do anything,” Darling said. “I didn’t steal it. We weren’t stealing it. We moved the thing probably 15 feet at the most.”
Oroville Police Sgt. Chris Sylvain gave a different version of events in his official report. He said Darling and a friend last month carried the machine two blocks from a Main Street restaurant before Darling dropped it and ran. Darling was later arrested at a local hotel, Sylvain said.
WSU coach Mike Price Tuesday said he has accepted Darling’s account after discussing it with him.
Price said it was “a real unfortunate circumstance for James and showed a little immaturity on his part.” But Price said he has no plans to penalize Darling or change the player’s co-captain status.
“It was malicious mischief and it was a prank to pay back a kid for another prank,” he said.
The linebacker from Kettle Falls was suspended for a week that included the Cougars’ 24-14 loss to Arizona last fall after he rolled teammate Ron Fowler’s Ford Bronco while returning from a Spokane hockey game. Blood-alcohol tests gave readings of .08 and .10, the legal limit, according to Whitman County court records.
The incident earned Darling a 30-day license suspension, a suspended six-month jail sentence, a $600 fine and six months of probation, which ended earlier this month. A third-degree theft charge for allegedly using a stolen WSU parking permit was dropped.
On June 4, Darling pleaded guilty in Okanogan District Court to third-degree malicious mischief and received a suspended 30-day jail sentence, $225 in fines and another year of probation, said Court Administrator Renee Townsley. A charge of third-degree theft was dropped.
The prosecutor’s office is still weighing some $1,185 in restitution to Kim Ellis, owner of the “Gumball Wizard” machine, for repairs that include fixing a scratched glass globe and ripped electrical plug. The restitution could end up being paid by Darling’s friend, said Civil Deputy Prosecutor Don Anderson, who declined to name the friend while charges remain against him.
According to court records and Anderson, who cited Sgt. Sylvain’s report, Darling and his friend took the gumball machine from the Peerless Restaurant and Lounge shortly before 1 a.m. May 11 and carried it to the Oroville Family Medical Clinic some two blocks away. Seeing a police cruiser drive by, Darling dropped the machine and took off to the north, Anderson said.
Standing about 5 feet tall and weighing about 70 pounds, the machine features a large glass ball and a spiral, neon-lit tube through which a gumball descends, Anderson said.
“This was not a cheap item,” Anderson said. “This was a $6,000, big gumball machine.”
Darling’s account differs in several details.
He said his friend wanted to put the machine on the car of someone as a way of getting even for putting crickets in his hotel room. Darling declined to name his friend, but said he was not a teammate.
“It started as a joke, but then the police didn’t think it was a joke,” Darling said.
Darling said they did not damage the machine. When asked if he was the one who ran, Darling said, “that was not me.”
The only reason he pleaded guilty, he said, was to avoid the hassle and expense of returning to Okanogan to challenge the charges in court.
“I just wanted to pay the fine and get out of it,” he said.
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The following fields overflowed: BYLINE = Eric Sorensen Staff writer Staff writer John Craig contributed to this story.