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A member of the North Dakota State University football team was removed from the roster after being allegedly involved in the theft of a designer bag filled with luxury items, including a costly Rolex watch, during a chaotic Fourth of July boating trip in Minnesota.
William Frattalone, 20, is scheduled to appear in court later this week facing charges of having stolen a designer bag containing over $270,000 in assets, such as a $228,000 Rolex and $25,000 in exclusive clothing, as per a complaint filed on Aug. 27.
The ousted cornerback marks the second player to be expelled from the Division 1 team within a year. Previously, linebacker Jaiden Pickett was removed after he was sentenced to a three-year prison term for accidentally discharging a firearm inside a residence while threatening another player last September.
Pickett and Frattalone had been involved in a “physical altercation/argument” with the other athlete, who did track at the university, before the gunfire erupted, the Brainerd Dispatch reported.
Frattalone — who hadn’t seen any playing time for the NDSU Bisons — was captured on video raving about how he wanted to fight others shortly before the shooting, which miraculously left no one injured, the outlet reported. He never faced any charges in connection to the incident.
In his latest run-in with the law, Frattalone’s alleged purse-snatching victim reported the apparent theft at the Maynards Restaurant, a bayside eatery in Excelsior, Minn.
The frantic victim explained that he was storing his bag in a secure cabin aboard his friend’s boat, but that it went missing while they were dining on land.
Frattalone, somehow, wound up on the boat as well, though it’s unclear how he knew the others on board. He tried to enter Maynards with the bag, but was stopped by employees because of their strict bag policy, according to the complaint.
The benchwarmer reportedly insisted that he just needed to bring the bag to his car, so the employees escorted him to the parking lot, where he quickly left the premises.
Later, another passenger on the boat contacted Frattalone about the missing bag. He shrugged it off and allegedly assured that his wealthy parents would “write a check for whatever was inside the bag.”
While executing a search warrant at Frattalone’s Minnesota home, authorities found the missing bag and a majority of the clothing, but the Rolex was nowhere in sight, according to the complaint.
Officers also found a video on Frattalone’s phone from July 4 showing the docked boat and the area where several bags, including the one stolen, were stowed.
NDSU Football Head coach Tim Polasek confirmed that Frattalone has since been dismissed from the team and “will not be considered to re-join the team in any fashion,” KVRR reported.
The Post reached out to the NDSU football team for comment.
Frattalone is set to appear in court on Thursday.