Police to TNT: Seahawks CB Quinton Dunbar in jail on felony charges. Here’s what’s next
Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar has turned himself into authorities in Florida on the third day of being wanted on four felony charges of armed robbery.
Public Information Officer Tania Rues of the Miramar police department told The News Tribune Saturday at 3:45 p.m. Florida time that Dunbar, 27, is now being held in the Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale.
Here’s what’s next:
Standard procedure in cases such as his is for a first appearance, commonly known as a bond hearing, before a judge in court within 24 hours of a wanted person turning himself in. That is expected to happen for Dunbar at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time Sunday in Fort Lauderdale.
Dunbar’s attorney from the player’s native Miami, Michael Grieco, issued a statement Saturday afternoon. He said Dunbar surrendered to “a bogus arrest warrant based solely on uncorroborated witness statements that have since been recanted. As I write this an innocent man sits in jail, facing charges that hold no water.”
Friday, Grieco told The News Tribune Dunbar is a victim of witnesses who lied to a police detective early Thursday morning at a party in Miramar. Those witnesses told police that the Seahawk player participated in a robbery involving guns, taking expensive jewelry and thousands of dollars in cash from fellow party-goers. Grieco said he has affidavits from four victims and a witness—the same five people whose statements are the basis for the police’s arrest warrant a Broward County judge approved Thursday—and that those five people “completely recanted, on paper, sworn,” their statements to police and now assert Dunbar was not involved in the crime.
Rues said no one came forward to police to recant their statements about the incident.
Grieco said Dunbar had initially worked out with prosecutors a plan to turn himself in on Monday, but that authorities then wanted Dunbar in custody immediately.
Asked what Dunbar did at a house party to put himself in a position to be under an arrest warrant and now jailed for four felonies, Grieco said: “He became an NFL player.”
Dunbar’s lawyer said it’s not hard for him to imagine young people at a party making up a story about a younger, wealthy NFL player. Dunbar has earned more than $8 million in his five-year pro career after playing for the University of Florida.
So did he do it, or not?
That’s what courts, judges and the legal process is for. That process begins Sunday.
Fellow NFL player DeAndre Baker, a cornerback for the New York Giants and long-time friend of Dunbar’s from Miami, turned himself in about five hours earlier than Dunbar did Saturday. Baker is being held on the same four charges held against Dunbar from the same incident at Wednesday’s house party in Miramar, plus four more charges of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Grieco ripped the Miramar police Friday, telling the TNT the department was running a “low-class, amateur-hour” operation. Dunbar’s attorney is particularly angered Miramar police publicized the approval by a Broward County judge of the arrest warrant out on his client on the department’s official Twitter page—and in doing so “tagged” the Seahawks (@Seahawks).
“The real story is the Miramar police department rushed with judgment on two NFL players,” Grieco said.
“I’ve never seen such low-class behavior from a police department,” the former prosecutor in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office said.
“The handling by the department...it’s amateur hour.”
Instead of assailing police publicly, Baker’s attorney is praising them. Cohen wrote on his Instagram account Saturday morning after the Giants player surrendered to authorities:
“We believe our client is innocent of all charges,” Cohen said. “We urge people not to rush to judgment. We have affidavits from several witnesses that exonerate my client.”
Cohen, like Grieco, says he has several affidavits from witnesses exonerating his client. Baker’s attorney said he plans to present those sworn statements plus video evidence to the judge at the appropriate time.
That time will be coming now that Baker, and Dunbar, are in custody.
Both Dunbar and Baker had warrants for a “no bond hold.” That means they will remain in jail until at least a judge holds an initial hearing, if not after it. Again, that first bond hearing is expected to be Sunday morning.
Three victims and one other witness gave conflicting reports to police whether Dunbar had a gun during the robberies they depict Baker led of expensive watches and thousands of dollars in cash at a party in Miramar Wednesday night. One witness said Dunbar had and showed a gun. Multiple others said he did not.
Chapter 812.13 of the 2019 Florida Statutes states, in part: “If in the course of committing the robbery the offender carried a firearm or other deadly weapon, then the robbery is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment or as provided in (other statutory guidelines).”
Florida has a minimum-sentencing law that requires a sentence of at least 10 years in prison for anyone convicted of a felony while using or attempting to use a firearm.
If in the course of committing a robbery the offender did not use a firearm or deadly weapon, then the same Florida statute says the robbery is a felony in the second degree.
The Seahawks acquired Dunbar in a trade with Washington in March to perhaps become their new starting cornerback. He spoke to Seattle-area media on a Zoom call online from his home in south Florida late Thursday morning, Eastern Time. That was about 11 hours after the alleged incident at the party Dunbar’s attorney confirmed to the TNT the Seahawks player attended.
In the Zoom interview with Seattle media Thursday, Dunbar—who has earned more than $8 million in his five-year NFL career and is due a salary of $3.25 million in 2020—called Seattle “a perfect fit.” He said that multiple times. He talked of how he appreciated the Seahawks for acquiring him.
“You just want to feel wanted, at the end of the day. The guys, they made a trade...for me. That’s good enough,” Dunbar said Thursday.
“Now I just hope to repay them in the way I carry myself as a person and as a player.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2020 at 12:54 PM.
