Tatum Bell caught on camera stealing Rudi Johnson’s luggage

Newly acquired Detroit Lions running back Rudi Johnson isn’t a hit with everyone in the 313 area code. In fact, one guy that could possibly have something against him is recently released running back Tatum Bell. According to reports, Bell was caught on security cameras picking up Johnson’s luggage and walking away with it. The luggage was returned, however Johnson claims he is missing his I.D., credit cards and about $200 in cash. Bell response, “I ain’t no thief.”

Bell claimed that he was asked to pick up the bags for a former teammate. So – if that’s the truth, where’s the money at? And Johnson’s undergarments that were not returned with the luggage.

According to Detroit Free Press writer Nicholas J. Cotsonika’s blog, there are two versions of what happened. Here they are:

First, Johnson’s:

Johnson left his bags in the locker room Monday while he visited president Matt Millen’s office. They were Gucci bags he had gotten at the Pro Bowl.

“It was top of the top,” Johnson said.

When he came back in the evening, they were gone. The first thought was that the cleaning staff had tput them away. He still didn’t know where they were when he spoke to the media Tuesday afternoon.

But later Tuesday afternoon, Lions director of security Ricky Sandoval showed Johnson a surveillance video of Bell taking the bags. How did Bell look?

“Suspect,” Johnson said.

Was he wearing a ski mask?

“He might as well,” Johnson said.

The bags were at a woman’s house, and the woman brought them to Lions headquarters – empty. Johnson said he canceled his credit cards.

Johnson joked about it:

“I got the bags back empty,” he said. “So he got a bunch of my underclothes. What he’s going to do with that, I don’t know. …

“He left the money clip, but he didn’t leave no money in it. He should have took the clip, too. …

“If anybody’s got some Perry Ellis boxers for sale, you know where they came from.”

Johnson spoke to Bell afterward. Bell told him it was a mix-up.

“I wasn’t even trying to hear all that,” Johnson said. “I didn’t believe nothing he said.”

Earlier, Johnson had spoken to Bell about Detroit – the city, the practice schedule, what to expect.

“That’s what makes it that much more bizarre,” Johnson said. “You do dirt, stuff will catch up to you, come around to you. It’s a situation I ain’t even really worrying about. But it is what it is. He did it behind my back. I’m sure he wouldn’t do it if I was here.”

Johnson called the incident an “all-time classic” but said he would not press charges.

Now, Bell’s version:

Knowing he was going to be released, Bell went to clean out his locker. Former teammate Victor DeGrate, a fellow Oklahoma State product who had been cut Saturday, asked him to grab his backpack. He grabbed two bags by the computer area, thinking they were DeGrate’s.

“I didn’t have a clue,” Bell said. “I wasn’t thinking or nothing at the time. I just grabbed the backpack and grabbed the other bag. It wasn’t in nobody’s locker or nothing like that. It was just sitting right there by the computers. … So I grabbed them and put them in the car.”

Bell said he took the bags to a friend of DeGrate’s, as DeGrate had asked him, too. Messages have been left for the woman and DeGrate.

Later, the Lions contacted Bell and told him they had the surveillance video of him taking Johnson’s bags.

“I said, ‘If you look on film, I wasn’t in no hurry or nothing. I was just going about my day,’ ” Bell said. “I tried to talk to Rudi yesterday, but he was pretty upset, so I let it go. So now it’s that I’m being a thief. I come to found out that the bags weren’t whose I thought they was. It was just an honest mistake, man.”

Bell said he had nothing of Johnson’s and tried to convince Johnson and the Lions of that.

“I didn’t go in the bags,” Bell said. “I didn’t open up no bags. I don’t have his stuff.

“I asked him. I said, ‘What do I need to do to clear my name?’ I asked the organization, ‘What do I need to do to clear my name? What do I need to do to reimburse Rudi? What can I do to help?’

“But ain’t nobody saying nothing to me. They’re just stuck on the fact that I’m a thief. I’m like, ‘You all know me better than that.’ I ain’t never been in no trouble. You know what I’m saying? I ain’t never, ever, ever been in no situation like this. I’m just trying to clear my name.”

Which version do you believe? Oh, and by the way Rudi, welcome to the ‘D.’