Trudy Faulcon details P.J. Hairston's rental car use to NCAA

Eric Prisbell | USA TODAY Sports

Trudy Faulcon, the mother of North Carolina leading scorer P.J. Hairston's close friend Miykael Faulcon, says she sat for a two-hour interview with two NCAA officials at an Atlanta hotel on Sept. 21, during which she said she witnessed Hairston driving a Chevy Camaro SS several times last spring.

Faulcon said Hairston visited her home on several occasions in May while driving the rented orange Camaro with Virginia plates. Hairston came to her home to visit her son Miykael.

Between March and June, Haydn "Fats" Thomas and a woman who shares his address twice rented a 2012 Camaro SS with Virginia plates for a total of 75 days and were billed $5,717.47, according to the Hertz rental receipts. Hairston was driving the Camaro when ticketed for speeding May 13.

The NCAA has been investigating possible extra benefits tied to Hairston, who was suspended from the North Carolina men's basketball team from July until September after a series of summer transgressions. NCAA bylaw 16.11.2.1 prohibits NCAA athletes from receiving any extra benefit as a result of their status.

Faulcon's account to the NCAA alleges Hairston's use of the rented Camaro, a possible extra benefit, was not an isolated incident. She said provided dates to investigators of when she saw Hairston visiting her home in the car. More frequent use of the vehicle on Hairston's part could lead to stiffer penalties from the NCAA.

Faulcon said that when Hairston visited her son at her home during the spring and summer of 2012, Hairston would be dropped off and picked up. But when he visited her home on a suburban Durham cul-de-sac in May, he was driving the Camaro with Virginia plates.

Faulcon said the first time she saw Hairston with the Camaro was in early May after she picked up her son from Elizabeth City State University, where he plays college basketball, and returned home to see Hairston at her home with the Camaro in the driveway.

"The first time I saw the car was when P.J. came in it," she told USA TODAY Sports. "The next time I saw it, P.J. came and picked him (Miykael) up again in it. Whenever Miykael needed to come home, and P.J. would be with him, P.J. would be driving it … When I saw that car, I knew it was P.J. or Miykael or the both of them. It never was his (Miykael's) car. The car was for P.J. It was for P.J. to use and to go wherever he wanted to go."

Faulcon said that Miykael Faulcon also drove the Camaro at times.

"I don't have a problem with (Hairston's mother) Wendy (Mailey), P.J. or UNC," Faulcon said. "I just want this whole situation to be fair. My son did not know Fats. He got to know Fats through P.J. Fats did not give my son any cars or drugs or money."

Thomas, a 39-year-old Durham-based party promoter, has said that he loaned a rental car to Miykael Faulcon on only one occasion because Faulcon did odd jobs at Thomas' home and wanted to drive to the store. Thomas said he had no relationship with Hairston.

Faulcon said that her son and Hairston often spent time hanging out at Thomas' Durham home with other players from area schools.

Catinia Farrington, the woman who shares Thomas' address, rented the Camaro from April 25 through June 17, a period of 54 days, according to the rental receipt. She was billed $3,249.00. Thomas rented the same vehicle March 25 through April 15, incurring charges of $2,468.47, according to the rental receipt from the Hertz facility at the Raleigh Durham International Airport.

Hairston, 20, was stopped at a checkpoint on June 5 in Durham while driving a 2013 GMC Yukon that was rented by Thomas. The charges were dismissed in July after Hairston complied with the conditions of the court, which included completing a drug assessment and providing his current driver's license.

Between February and May, four Hertz rental vehicles tied to Thomas – a GMC Yukon, a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, a 2013 Mercedes Benz 350 and the Camaro SS – received a total of 25 citations on the University of North Carolina campus. The Camaro SS received 13 citations in April and May.

In late July, North Carolina coach Roy Williams suspended Hairston indefinitely hours after he was cited for speeding and careless and reckless driving for going 93 mph in a 65 mph zone in his girlfriend's car.

Nine citations remained unpaid on Aug. 9, when North Carolina responded to a public records request from USA Today Sports. The university received a check for $265 on May 30 from American Traffic Processing, which is Hertz's vendor for handling citations.

On Sept. 26, Williams announced that Hairston had earned the opportunity to practice again with the team. In a statement, Williams said at the time, "In 26 years as a head coach, I've never made the demands on a young man that I have made of P.J. … P.J. has done, to this point, everything he's been asked to do, and done it with an outstanding attitude and a sense of remorse for his actions which put him in this position. He knows he made a series of mistakes and understands very clearly that he embarrassed his family, our program and the University."

On the same day, Hairston apologized in a statement for mistakes that he said brought negative attention to the team, the university and his family.

North Carolina opens its men's basketball season Friday against Oakland.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to anybody," Faulcon said. "I only want what's fair. I hold no hard feelings toward anyone in the PJ Hairston camp. I still love PJ. But the truth is the truth."

Eric Prisbell, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @EricPrisbell.