"Takum" Bell steals Rudi Johnson's stuff on way out of Det.

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sorry if this has been posted

A strange thing happened to running back Rudi Johnson when he visited with the Detroit Lions on Monday.

Someone stole his stuff.

Seriously.

Specifically, and as we’re told by a reliable source (i.e., not the person who told Mort that Joey Harrington had agreed to terms with the Ravens on Monday, or the person who told John Clayton that Todd Bouman had agreed to terms with the Ravens on Tuesday), Johnson left his bags outside CEO Matt Millen’s office while he met with team officials and, ultimately, worked out a deal with the team.

So when Johnson came back to get his bags, they were nowhere to be found. Johnson and Millen were stumped.

Enter the eye in the sky.

The team checked the videotapes generated by the team’s in-house surveillance system, and they quickly identified the culprit.

So who might it have been? None other than Tatum Bell, who lost his gig with the Lions after Rudi arrived.

Per the source, Bell took the bags to the house of a female acquaintance. When confronted on the matter, Bell offered up some cockamamie story that he thought the bags belonged to someone he knew. The girl, however, said that she hadn’t seen Bell in several months and he showed up out of the blue and asked her to keep the bags for a while.

Johnson has retrieved the bags, and it’s our understanding that charges won’t be pressed.

Tatum apparently didn’t know that he was being monitored.

http://www.profootballtalk.com/2008/09/ ... n-detroit/

 

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Re: tatum Bell steals rudi Johnson's stuff on way out of Detroit

Rudi on Bell: 'Shyster, conniving stuff'
by Tom Kowalski
Wednesday September 03, 2008, 2:11 PM

While the Detroit Lions organization might not have anything to say about the bizarre incident surrounding former running back Tatum Bell, current Lions running back Rudi Johnson had plenty to say.

According to Johnson, Bell took two of Johnson's duffel bags from the Lions locker room on Monday and, when they were returned by another party on Tuesday, almost everything was missing.

"Underwear, socks, credit cards and money. He left my money clip with no money in it,'' said Johnson, adding that about $200 was missing. "He should've taken the clip, too. It's quite stupid if you ask me.''

Bell was not available for comment and his agent could not be reached.

Johnson was signed by the Lions on Monday and then the Lions released Tatum Bell. Johnson said he didn't know who took his duffel bags until he saw a surveillance tape from inside the Lions facility. He said he saw Bell take his bags.

"All of this happened after he got released and came in and got some stuff out of his locker,'' Johnson said. "That's when he scooped the bags up, some real shyster, conniving stuff.''

Johnson said he would not involve the police.

"I'm not going to the police for this one,'' he said. "I don't need anybody else, I can handle it.''

Johnson left his duffel bags in the Lions locker room on Monday and went upstairs to talk to Lions president Matt Millen. When Johnson returned to the locker room, the bags were missing. He and Millen searched the building for the bags but couldn't find them.

On Tuesday, after speaking to reporters -- when he recounted a pleasant conversation he had had with Bell -- Johnson saw the videotape. An unidentified woman apparently returned the bags to the Lions offices and Johnson then confronted Bell.

"He tried to make up some excuse, he tried to blame it on somebody else so I didn't try to entertain something that didn't make any sense,'' Johnson said. "He tried to make up an excuse. He said some girl had got it and took it to somebody's house. The story didn't make any sense so I didn't pay it any attention.

"He knows how I feel about it, trust me. He knows how I feel about it and it's nothing positive. He said it was a mixup. It is what it is.''

The Lions had issued a statement earlier in the day on Wednesday saying the club would have no comment on the situation.

http://www.mlive.com/lions/index.ssf/20 ... iving.html