FBI gathers evidence in investigation of Clemons

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Boone County authorities have given the FBI more than two dozen hours of recorded jailhouse phone conversations of former Missouri basketball player Ricky Clemons, Sheriff Ted Boehm said Tuesday.

The FBI declined to comment about why it gathered the phone recordings and incoming mail for Clemons, who is serving a 60-day sentence after pleading guilty to false imprisonment of his former girlfriend.

The NCAA is separately investigating allegations made by the former girlfriend, Jessica Bunge, that Clemons received cash, clothing and cheated on exams while playing for Missouri.

"I can confirm that we provided the FBI with the phone recordings and the mail of Ricky Clemons," Boehm told The Associated Press.

Boehm's comments were the first law enforcement acknowledgment of the FBI's interest in Clemons, who was kicked off the basketball team and had his athletic scholarship revoked in July after a judge ordered him to jail.

He has been incarcerated since mid-July. Clemons is scheduled to be released on Sunday, but he will remain on probation.

Clemons' attorney, Wally Bley, said he was unaware the FBI had any interest in his client.

"How many more twists can this sordid tale take?" Bley said. Clemons is declining all interview requests, Bley said.

FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza in Kansas City said he could not comment.

The county jail supervisor, Maj. Warren Brewer, said his staff put about 28 hours of Clemons' incoming and outgoing calls at the jail on compact disks for the FBI. Brewer said incoming and outgoing calls for prisoners are routinely recorded.

Missouri athletic director Mike Alden said he was not aware of the FBI's interest in Clemons. A spokesman for the school said Snyder would not comment.

Clemons was a junior college transfer, a guard who averaged 14.2 points per game last season. He was arrested after a January incident in which Bunge said the athlete choked her in a headlock, yanked her hair and wouldn't allow her to leave his Columbia apartment for about an hour after they argued.

Clemons, 23, pleaded guilty in April to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment of Bunge.

Coach Quin Snyder has denied that Clemons received money, but the coach acknowledged giving Clemons a few items of promotional clothing that he planned to discard. Missouri officials have said that would probably be considered an infraction by the NCAA.

Bunge said Snyder's clothing gifts to Clemons were more numerous, and that she filled the rear end of her sport utility vehicle one day with clothes she and Clemons picked up at Snyder's home.

Bunge, who now attends school in the Chicago area, also said she saw Clemons emerge from the Hearnes Center, where Missouri plays basketball, carrying handfuls of cash. Bunge also said she saw tutors write papers for Clemons and that he received answers to exams.