Ex-Illinois player arrested for allegedly beating woman

Consider Jereme Richmond’s NBA hopes on hold.

The former Illinois player was allegedly arrested Monday and charged with the beating of a woman and threatening her with a gun, according to a report in The Daily Herald (Ill.).

The prosecutor in the case, Stephen Scheller, says Richmond and the woman had dated, but that their relationship had soured, leading to the incident. From the paper:

On Sunday, Scheller said, the woman drove to Richmond’s residence in the 2000 block of Arthur Drive in Waukegan to retrieve her cellphone. The two began to argue outside Richmond’s house, Scheller said, and Richmond shoved the woman back into her car during the ruckus. Monday afternoon, Scheller said, Richmond and Meyer drove to the woman’s house and Richmond began to argue with her again as her mother looked on. At one point, Scheller said, Richmond spit on the woman and said he was going to shoot her.

He could face up to 14 years in prison.

Richmond, a 6-foot-7, 22-pound forward, was a prized recruit, but had an uneven freshman year, averaging 7.6 points and 1.8 assists. That unhappy season included a couple awkward moments with coach Bruce Weber before eventually being suspended for the team’s tournament games due to “an athletic code violation.”

He’s still young (19) and might avoid any jail time. But it’s doubtful many NBA teams will be willing to invest too much on him.

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