Michael McKnight, SI.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. — In a somber, one-hour hearing inside the Schwartz Federal Building in downtown San Diego, eight defendants made their first appearances in the University of San Diego basketball game-fixing case detailed in a federal indictment unsealed on Monday. The defendants, dressed in identical, unmarked white jumpsuits, included Thaddeus Brown, 32, a former USD assistant coach, and Brandon Dowdy, 22, a former USD and UC-Riverside player, both of whom are charged with participating in a scheme in which at least two college basketball games were tainted by bribes. Former USD star Brandon Johnson, also named in the indictment, was arrested in Houston on April 9 and is expected to appear in federal court there this week.
The indictment alleges that an illegal sports-betting operation and the distribution of marijuana were somehow intertwined with the game-fixing conspiracy. Of the eight defendants in court on Tuesday, three — Steve Goria, 32; Paul Thweni, 26; and Richard Garmo, 32 — stand charged in all three areas of wrongdoing. Their appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Louisa Porter began exactly 24 hours after Goria was arrested following a two-hour SWAT-team standoff at his home in nearby Serra Mesa.
All eight defendants pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. Dowdy, a wispy former guard who played 13 games for USD in 2006-07 before transferring to UC-Riverside (where he played 55 games between 2008 and 2010), appeared dejected and embarrassed in court, with both thumbs alternately supporting his chin or pinching the top of his nose. His mother arrived midway through the proceeding and whispered to a reporter that she’d only learned of the matter the day before. “I’m shocked, definitely,” she said, asking that her name be withheld. “This is totally out of character.” She had never seen the other defendants before, she added, and Brandon had never mentioned them.
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