FSU Agent Probe Widens

December 20, 1999 / 4:47 PM EST / CBS/AP

An employee of a Houston-based sports agent may have arranged the purchase of airline tickets for three Florida State football players in violation of a Florida licensing law, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.

Agent Carl C. Poston III's company, Professional Sports Planning Inc., became the focus of that inquiry in July after university athletic officials learned that flights had been booked from Tallahassee to Houston for Peter Warrick, the Seminoles' star receiver, as well as receivers Laveranues Coles and Ron Dugans.

University officials became suspicious because the July 8 flights coincided with a lavish party being thrown in Houston for Poston's clients.

Only Coles took the flight. He was withheld from the Aug. 28 season opener against Louisiana because using the ticket meant he had violated NCAA rules, which bar student-athletes from receiving cash or other benefits from agents.

The university ruled Coles ineligible Sept. 9, seven days after Florida State police and state investigators questioned Boca Raton, Fla., travel agent, Angela Steffer.

Steffer testified she booked the flights and issued the tickets at the request of Jeff Knox, a Professional Sports Planning employee, and later followed his orders to cover up the company's involvement, the Chronicle reported, citing documents and sources familiar with an ongoing investigation by the Florida State police and the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Knox, identified in 1996 correspondence with the Texas Secretary of State's Office as "client services manager" for Professional Sports Planning, is not licensed as an agent in Florida. Poston is licensed.

Recruiting athletes attending Florida schools and engaging in other agent-related activities in the state without a license is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Natalie Kelly, a spokeswoman for Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said a licensed agent can be charged with criminal misconduct if an unlicensed employee is conducting agent-related business in Florida on the agent's behalf.

A licensed agent who violates NCAA regulations also risks administrative penalties, including suspension or revocation of his or her license.

Poston did not immediately return a telephone message left Monday. Florida State police spokesman Jack Handley has refused to comment.

Warrick and Dugans told university officials they were unaware of the plane tickets.