After Kyle Whittingham was unavailable for comment last week, the Utah head coach finally broke his silence regarding junior Dominique Hatfield’s arrest.
According to a statement released Monday by Utah Athletics, Whittingham has decided to suspend the cornerback until further notice.
“Given the serious nature of the charge against Dominique Hatfield, he has been suspended indefinitely from our program while we await further clarity from the legal system,” his statement reads.
Hatfield was arrested last Wednesday and charged two days later with aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, and theft of taken property, a misdemeanor.
In a statement released by Unified Police, Hatfield purportedly used the alias David Wilkins to sell an Xbox through KSL classified ads. But when he met up with the person who wanted to purchase it — at a car wash in Millcreek Tuesday night — he stole $180 from the man at knife point. The victim was uninjured.
Following the robbery, the victim’s wife saw another ad on KSL for two iPhones from the same seller. She set up another meeting at the car wash and had police waiting on scene when Hatfield arrived, where officers detained him, matching a description from the victim.
Hatfield has denied involvement in the robbery, according to court documents, but admitted to selling iPhones off of KSL.com. Police questioned how he got the phones, and Hatfield said they were from parties he attended where “drunk people would leave their phones.” He never made an attempt to return the phones to the owners, and one of them was reported missing back in April.
Hatfield, who became a full-time cornerback during his sophomore year, had 10 starts last season and boasted 38 tackles.
The Utah Chronicle will update this story when more information becomes available.
Courtney Tanner also contributed to this report.
@GriffDoug