Misdemeanor drug charges dismissed for Southeast Missouri State football players

Misdemeanor charges of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia have been dismissed for Southeast Missouri State football players Alex Knight and Wade Wright.

The two were charged after the home they shared with former Southeast linebacker Hunter Bledsoe and current linebacker Brad Ivey was searched by members of the Cape Girardeau Poilce Department and Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force on June 24.

Bledsoe, who was dismissed from the team, faces a felony charge of distributing a controlled substance and a misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia after $6,225 in cash, a drug ledger and several bags of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were found in his bedroom.

According to the probable-cause statement, a marijuana pipe and bong stem were found in Knight's bedroom and two bong stems and two marijuana roaches were found in Wright's bedroom, and Knight "admitted to the ownership of the pipe in his bedroom closet."

There is a case review scheduled for Bledsoe at 10 a.m. Monday. Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Chris Limbaugh said he could not comment on why charges against Knight and Wright were dropped because of Bledsoe's case.

"There is still a pending felony charge against one of them that we are full steam ahead on that deals with the exact same set of facts," Limbaugh said in a phone interview. "That being the case, I can't comment any further."

Southeast football coach Tom Matukewicz said he was fairly confident that Knight, a junior punter, and Wright, a senior long snapper, would not be found guilty after he researched the incident and the evidence. Matukewicz said he dealt with the situation over the summer. Knight and Wright have played in all four games this season.

"Definitely it's important to their families and to their careers that that was not what happened, and so I'm glad the justice system worked," Matukewicz said.