Deferred prosecution for FIU whistleblower Feagin

Former FIU women’s basketball captain Destini Feagin entered a deferred prosection program after facing charges of credit card fraud and third-degree grand theft for using teammate Kristian Hudson’s athletic Panthers Bucks card.

FIU Police arrested Feagin for the charges two months after she admitted using the card for $347.77 in food and toiletries, and Feagin’s mother put $350 back onto Hudson’s account. It was also two months after Feagin complained to FIU Athletics higher-ups that first-year women’s basketball coach Marlin Chinn pursued a sexual relationship with her throughout the 2015-16 season. Feagin told the Miami Herald she felt the arrest, coming so long after the admission of the crime, punishment (suspended for the final four games of the season) and restitution, smelled of payback from the school for making her complaints about Chinn public.

FIU fired Chinn in March, but made sure to peg the firing to the $600 he loaned Feagin to cover a debt on her FIU account. By connecting the firing to an NCAA violation, FIU could fire Chinn with cause and save the $644,000 remaining on his contract.

A spokesperson for FIU, which has had its name connected to sexual misconduct allegations a few times this spring, told The Herald last week the Title IX investigation into Feagin’s accusations against Chinn remain in progress.

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Deferred prosecution for FIU whistleblower Feagin."