Leonte Carroo’s mother, girlfriend charged by Rutgers police

PISCATAWAY Leonte Carroo’s mother and girlfriend were charged Tuesday by Rutgers University police for their alleged involvement in the Sept. 12 altercation that left the Rutgers football star facing a charge of simple assault under domestic violence.

Lavern Carroo, 41, of Edison, and Maria Vega, 20, of Fort Lee, were two of three people charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct. Juan Vega, 52, of Fort Lee, faces the same charges, police said.

Actions of those charged include general fighting behavior, specifically hair pulling and striking a victim in the face with a hand, police said.

A message left on Lavern Carroo’s cell phone was not immediately returned. The relationship between Maria and Juan Vega is unclear.

Less than an hour after a football game ended, Carroo reportedly intervened in a confrontation between his girlfriend and a woman with whom he previously was romantically involved, who at that time worked for Rutgers athletics as a recruiting ambassador, Gannett New Jersey confirmed.

Carroo, 21, is alleged to have slammed the woman, whose identity is being withheld by Gannett New Jersey, into the concrete ground outside of the Hale Center athletic training complex, according to a criminal complaint filed in Piscataway municipal court.

Carroo, an Edison native and one of the top wide receiver prospects for the 2016 NFL Draft, is indefinitely suspended from the Rutgers football team and faces an Oct. 1 court date. He entered a plea of not guilty and waived his first court appearance.

"Any comments we have to make, we'll make in court," Peter Gilbreth, Leonte Carroo's attorney, told Gannett New Jersey.

The woman told The Record of Bergen County that she thinks she blacked out for about 10 seconds after the alleged slam to the ground, adding, “When I looked up, I had a crowd of about 15 people around me. One girl was hitting me with a (traffic) cone.”

She has obtained a restraining order against Carroo, according to the newspaper.

Gannett New Jersey submitted an Open Public Records Act request on Sept. 14 to obtain the police report from the incident but has not received a reply. An OPRA request to obtain security camera footage outside of the Hale Center submitted Sept. 17 also has not received a reply.

Carroo maintains the support of Rutgers teammates such as Darius Hamilton, his best friend going back to their days together as top recruits at Don Bosco Prep High School. Hamilton said “we all are” operating on the assumption that Carroo will rejoin the team at some point.

“He texts me every day,” Hamilton said. “I was actually with him (Sunday) and I talk to him on the phone all the time. It’s hurting him being away from us. He gives messages that he wants me to relay to the team. Any way I can be there for him, I’ll be there for him.”

Hamilton called it “a terrible situation,” though he did not elaborate on specifics of the incident.

Rutgers players have followed the lead of head coach Kyle Flood, who is suspended for three games for an unrelated incident and declined comment, citing an ongoing investigation. Flood, who initially said the investigation is one that he “takes very seriously,” still is running the program on nongame days, though he is prohibited from speaking with media.

“That’s my brother,” Hamilton said of Carroo. “Right, wrong or indifferent, that’s my brother. I love him.”

The investigation by the RUPD is ongoing and anyone with information may call the RUPD Investigations Unit at 848-932-8025.

Staff Writer Ryan Dunleavy: rdunleavy@gannettnj.com