Former Tacoma prep football star charged with attempted robbery, unlawful imprisonment
A Utah State University football player who starred at Lincoln High School in Tacoma is accused of forcing a woman at gunpoint to get money for him from a Federal Way bank, according to court documents.
Quazzel White, a 22-year-old senior at Utah State, was charged Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court with first-degree attempted robbery, unlawful imprisonment and theft of a motor vehicle.
White does not yet appear to have a defense attorney, according to court records. Utah State athletics spokesperson Doug Hoffman confirmed Thursday that White was a member of the football team. He said the athletics department was made aware of the charges Tuesday morning, and White immediately was suspended from the team pending further investigation.
White is alleged to have gone to the victim’s Fife apartment on May 9 while armed with a 9 mm handgun with an extended magazine. According to charging documents, the woman posted an ad online and was expecting to meet with White to “hook up” and be paid in exchange.
Instead, court documents state, White demanded money from the woman and threatened to kill her if she didn’t do what he said. After allegedly forcing the woman to drive to a bank in Puyallup that turned out to be closed, the two went to a Chase Bank in Federal Way. The victim went in alone and was able to get help from bank staff, who called police.
Federal Way Police Department officers arrived, and White fled, crashing the victim’s car in a parking lot. The 6-foot-3 and 310-pound offensive lineman then ran from officers but was apprehended. According to the declaration for determination of probable cause, White declined to make a statement to police but said he was on the football team at Utah State University.
White pleaded not guilty at arraignment Wednesday afternoon. Pro-tem Court Commissioner Megan Foley set bail at $100,000.
Defendant’s athletic career in Tacoma
According to Utah State Athletics’ website, White is an integrated studies major. He transferred to the team from Texas Christian University in 2021, where he played 21 games in four seasons and started on the offensive line five times. White received an honorable mention in the Mountain West all-conference awards in 2021.
Before college, White attended Lincoln High School from 2013 to 2017 and was part of the winningest senior class in the high school’s history, according to archive stories from The News Tribune. He won 38 games in his four years at the school and was named the 3A Pierce County League’s offensive lineman of the year in 2016.
White was highly recruited by Division 1 college teams, initially verbally committing to Washington State University over Boise State, San Diego State, Utah State and Colorado State. He then decommitted from WSU in January 2017 and signed to Texas Christian University in February.
Charging documents describe attempted robbery, threats
A woman was at her Fife apartment May 9 when she answered a knock on her door. According to the probable cause document, the woman told police White forced his way into her apartment while armed with a gun and demanded money from her.
The woman told White she didn’t have any money, and the two argued until she told him her money was at the bank. Then, White allegedly forced the victim to drive him to a Chase Bank branch in Puyallup that is located inside a Fred Meyer.
According to the probable cause document, the woman went into the store by herself, but the bank was closed. She walked through the store and didn’t ask anyone for help, later telling police she feared White would hurt her if she didn’t do what he said.
“The victim told officers that the defendant told her multiple times that he would kill her, and told her not to do anything foolish,” prosecutors wrote in the charging document.
Then, the two went to a Chase Bank branch on Pacific Highway in Federal Way. According to the probable cause document, White instructed the woman to go inside and withdraw money for him.
Inside, the woman told staff she had been abducted from her apartment and forced at gunpoint to come to the bank to get money for her captor.
Staff at the bank called police. According to the probable cause document, Federal Way police officers tried to contact White, but he drove off at a high speed through a mall parking lot. He crashed and tried to flee on foot, but officers apprehended him.
When White was taken into custody, he was wearing black gloves and a face mask that covered everything but his eyes. Inside the car, officers recovered a 9 mm handgun.
Detectives later talked to a neighbor of the victim who was contacted by the woman during the abduction. According to the probable cause document, the neighbor got a call from her at 1:28 p.m. and was asked to go into the victim’s apartment to retrieve her purse and iPad. The victim told the neighbor what happened and said she was trying to drive around to kill time and figure out how to get away safely.
The victim called her neighbor again from a bank. The neighbor told the woman to report the incident to a bank teller because they had discrete ways to call police.
When detectives interviewed the victim, she denied knowing the defendant and initially said she only opened the door to him because she thought he was a maintenance worker. During the interview, the victim showed detectives her phone and allowed them to take screenshots of phone calls she made during the incident.
Detectives noted that some outgoing calls were made using an app called “Sideline.” The victim said it was an app to call and message people. Through further research, detectives learned it was typically used to allow someone to have a second phone number and keep their personal number private.
“Recognizing that such an application could be a tool used by someone involved in prostitution to safeguard their number, the detective told the victim that she needed to hear the entire story because it didn’t make sense that she was randomly targeted,” prosecutors wrote in the charging document.
The victim then told detectives she was meeting White with the understanding that they would “hook up,” and she would be paid in exchange. Instead of hooking up, the victim said she was kidnapped and robbed.
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
