After being arrested 10 days, two Ball State University freshman football players will remain in jail until their initial hearings Thursday.
Brandon Houston and Eulas Taylor III were each formally charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of receiving stolen property on Friday and are still ineligible for bail, Officer Jason Roberts of the Delaware County jail said.
The initial hearing for the trial has been set for Thursday at 9 a.m., according to the Delaware County clerk's office.
At that time, the judge will set a court date as well as decide when Houston and Taylor will be eligible for bail and what it will be, Diane Frye, deputy Delaware County prosecutor, said.
The players were held initially for three business days, then the prosecutor's office filed for an extension through Monday. Since the two were formally charged on Friday, they must remain in jail until their initial hearing.
The players were arrested Oct. 13 under suspicion of stealing laptop computers from Woody and Shales residence halls.
If convicted, according to Indiana Code, Houston and Taylor could face six to 20 years in prison for each account of burglary, which is a Class B felony. They could also receive six months to three years for receiving stolen property, which is a Class D felony.
"If they [Houston and Taylor] were to be convicted and if the charges were to run consecutively [be stacked], they could face up to 46 years in prison," Frye said. "That is highly unlikely, though. As far as we, and the courts, are concerned, they are innocent until proven guilty."
In a press conference Monday, head football coach Brady Hoke said both Houston and Taylor have been suspended for the rest of the season and are banned from the Fisher Football Training Complex.
"There is no move to make right now," Hoke said. "I'm doing what I think is right for the program."
The freshmen were arrested at 9:30 a.m. Friday after three burglary reports had been filed for missing laptops in the halls, according to police reports.
University police were already at the scene responding to a fire alarm, which was after two computers had already been reported stolen, when one of the officers was approached by a resident who reported losing his computer during the alarm, Detective John Foster of the University Police Department said.
A K-9 officer later found the computers, which had been minimally damaged, in some bushes, Foster said.
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