"Whether it was a case of mistaken identity or identity fraud or both, no one can say for sure.Dolphins rookie Vontae Davis just wants people to know he was not arrested on June 9 in Champaign, Ill., where he starred at the University of Illinois.
A report to that effect surfaced Tuesday morning in The Daily Illini, the campus newspaper. Citing a report filed by Champaign police officer Michael A. Talbott, the newspaper reported Davis had been arrested at 6:47 p.m. and charged with unnecessary vehicular noise and driving without a valid license.
The arrest summary, a copy of which is available online at the City of Champaign Web site, lists a Vontae Ottis Davis and a home address of 920 Emerson Street in Washington, D.C. Both the name and address belong to the Dolphins rookie.
However, Davis and the Dolphins say he was in Davie attending organized team activities on both June 9 and June 10.
"I talked to Vontae, and he told me he was here all day on June 9," said Harvey Greene, Dolphins senior vice president of media relations. "It was an OTA day, followed by a rookie symposium that we know kept him in the building until at least 3:30 [p.m.]. There was no way he could have been in Illinois at 6:40 [p.m.] or whenever that happened."
According to Greene, Davis was back at the Dolphins' complex by 7 a.m. on June 10 for another workout.
"He told me he wasn't there [in Illinois]," Greene said. "Our own people told me he wasn't."
Davis, reached on his cell phone, said he hadn't even been in Champaign since February.
"It's a crazy thing," he said. "When I heard about it, it hit me: 'Oh, God.' It was something I couldn't prepare for. It just came out of nowhere."
According to Davis, his wallet was stolen before he left school to turn pro. He canceled all his credit cards and reported the theft, but theorized it's possible someone who looks similar to him was still using his old driver's license as identification."
