The Front Row

Good now that leave's room for the Jaylon Smith........

Here is what's going on, dude. There is a potential recruiting violation involving a fucking scumbag registered sex offender interacting with recruits outside of parole, and the individual's undocumented status in the state of Ohio.

http://www.elevenwarriors.com/2012/05/11220/alex-anzalone-decommits-from-ohio-state#comment-193244

http://www.landgrantholyland.com/2012/5/3/2997917/twitter-sex-offender-bdubstriviaguru

In 2007, then 27 year old Charles Eric Waugh, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to five counts of possession of matter portraying sexual performances by minors. The FBI office in Oklahoma City had tracked Waugh downloading images of boys younger than 16 engaged in sexual acts and coordinated with the bureau's Louisville office to pursue charges against Waugh. As part of the guilty plea (and due to his lack of a record), Waugh avoided jail time, was placed on probation, made to register as a sex offender for the next 20 years, and forced to complete a two year rehabilitation program that incarcerated offenders must undergo before release. Per the terms of his probation, he also had to comply with various regulations for sex offenders. Amongst them, KRS 17.546 stipulates:

1. "(1) As used in this section:
"Instant messaging or chat room program" means a software program that allows two (2) or more persons to communicate over the Internet in real time using typed text; and
"Social networking Web site" means an Internet Web site that:
Facilitates the social introduction between two (2) or more persons;
Allows a person to create a Web page or a personal profile; and
Provides a person who visits the Web site the opportunity to communicate with another person.
No registrant, as defined in KRS 17.500, shall knowingly or intentionally use a social networking Web site or an instant messaging or chat room program if that Web site or program allows a person who is less than eighteen (18) years of age to access or use the Web site or program.
Any person who violates subsection (2) of this section shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor."

Having violated seemingly all of these as well as actually interfaced with under 18 athletes as a result of those interactions with but a year to go on a five year probation, it's difficult to see the situation resolving favorably for Waugh.

The Kentucky State Police were notified of Waugh's behavior and detectives began a case on the situation immediately. After being notified by several parties that Waugh may be a person of interest for compliance reasons Monday afternoon, the university received a comprehensive documentation of Waugh's actions as well as the findings of which specific student athletes and recruits had been dialoguing with him.

Over the course of the next 48 hours, Waugh's twitter account was suspended on two different occasions. During the first, Waugh created a second account, @TOSUGuru. It seemed initially that another flood of motivational tweets coupled with twitter's block and report for spam functionality had resulted in an auto-suspension, but it remains unclear at this time if twitter or law enforcement had their hands in the matter.

After his account was restored Wednesday, both the @Bdubstriviaguru and @TOSUGuru accounts were suspended Thursday morning not long before The Ohio State University sent this mass text to all student athletes:

Mass-text-alert_medium

The accompanying student athlete sent e-mail was reported on by the student paper The Lantern Thursday evening and included the following:

"We strongly recommend that you take the steps (see links below) to block his access to your Twitter and Facebook accounts," Archie said in the email. "In addition, we've enclosed a photograph and a link to a news article regarding this individual. As a reminder, the individuals who you associate with on social networking sites (i.e., Twitter, Facebook) can have negative implications on your reputation and the university. Please remember to choose your ‘social media friends' carefully!"

The e-mail also included instructions on how to unfollow individuals on Facebook and block users on Twitter.

No one really knows what went on behind the scenes. And the principals involved aren't going to talk about it. This one may be hard to ever get a handle on. The good news is that it is only May. A lot of great things are going to happen between now and February. No reason to fret!

Definitely seems like something that could have happened anywhere. Too bad it had to happen to OSU. Hopefully Urban Meyer recruits like shark teeth. One falls out and a sharper one falls into place.

This kid de-commits over the Waugh issue but is still considering Penn St? He doesn't seem smart enough to attend TOSU. Good riddance.

Grow up you pussie...not later right now. Tell daddy you love him. Yet I am a man and I'm going to The Ohio State University and win a couple of National Championships.

I am amazed with the venom against this kid. Yes, he decommitted and it sucks. The entire situation sucks. It could have happened anywhere, but it did happen here. And seeing the response by Buckeye fans I am sure he isn't regretting his decision at all.

I am sure this year will end up just fine with recruiting and I doubt the fall off between the kid who takes his space will be huge, but I am amazed at some of the comments. Be pissed off at the jackass perve.