Baton Rouge police arrested four former LSU football players — Tyrann Mathieu, Jordan Jefferson, Karnell Hatcher and Derrick Bryant — on marijuana charges on the afternoon of Thursday 25 October 2012.[1] Officers were sent to an apartment at 262 West State at about 3:30 p.m. after a complaint that a man was trying to force his way into the complex through a security gate.[2] Mathieu, then 20, answered the door and gave officers consent to search, and police said they immediately smelled a strong odour of marijuana.[3] Inside, officers found the other three men and identified the man who had forced his way through the gate as Jefferson, then 22.[3]

The search found a marijuana grinder, a digital scale and 10 bags of high-grade marijuana, seven of them inside Bryant’s book sack, police said.[2] No weight for the marijuana was published in these accounts.[1] Mathieu, Jefferson and Hatcher were charged with simple possession of marijuana, and Bryant with possession with intent to distribute marijuana.[2] ESPN reported that Bryant also faced a possession of drug paraphernalia charge, described as the most serious against him.[3]

All four were booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, with bond set at $9,000 for Bryant, $3,500 for Hatcher and $500 each for Jefferson and Mathieu, according to booking records.[2] Mathieu, Bryant and Jefferson were released from jail by early Friday morning, while Hatcher remained in custody, ESPN reported.[3]

Mathieu, a 2011 Heisman Trophy finalist known as the “Honey Badger”, had been removed from the LSU team earlier in 2012 over failed drug tests and was enrolled at the university hoping to return.[2]