ASU basketball player dismissed from team after robbery arrest

Cameron Golden, 21.
Cameron Golden, 21.

An Arkansas State University basketball player was arrested Saturday after a student reported he was robbed at gunpoint by a group of men he had tried to buy marijuana from, authorities said.

Senior guard Cameron Golden, 21, was listed on the Craighead County jail roster Monday afternoon. He faces charges including aggravated robbery, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, delivery of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a handgun on school property, according to police documents.

The victim told investigators he arranged to meet four men Friday night to purchase marijuana, but the group instead took $280 from him and pointed a handgun at him when he chased them, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Surveillance video identified Donald Mark Perry as one of the suspects, the affidavit said, adding that investigators determined Perry accessed a dorm parking lot using Golden’s student ID card.

Perry, 24, was also listed on the jail roster Monday facing a charge of aggravated robbery.

Police searched Golden’s apartment at the Red Wolf Den residence hall Saturday.

A Smith and Wesson gun, which had been reported stolen out of Jonesboro, was found along with ammunition concealed in a refrigerator, the affidavit said. Police also found $1,390 in a shoe box, codeine cough syrup not prescribed to Golden and a rolled dollar bill with “white powdery residue inside it,” the affidavit said. Police noted that a field test kit showed “a positive reaction for the presence of methamphetamine" on the bill.

Arkansas State head men’s basketball coach John Brady announced Saturday that Golden had been dismissed from the team for an unspecified violation of team rules and university policy.

In addition to being dismissed from the team, “Golden will be under interim suspension per Arkansas State University conduct rules," ASU spokesman Bill Smith said.

Upcoming Events