Teams receive erroneous report on Louisville's SheltonBy John Clayton
ESPN.com


An innocent visit to the Carolina Panthers turned into the worst experience in the young life of Louisville halfback Eric Shelton, who is expected to be a first day selection in the April 23 draft.

Running back Eric Shelton threatened to sue Infomart after the bungled report.
Shelton found out during that visit that around 18 NFL teams received background reports on him that found him guilty of acts he didn't commit. As it turned out, a company hired by teams to do background checks confused Eric Shelton, the running back, with a different Eric Shelton who had a criminal past. The Panthers just happened to be the team Shelton was visiting once the report was distributed.

"I'm just glad we were able to catch this early," said one of his agents, Peter Schaffer. "I think we were able to overcome the damage. We've talked to the teams that received the report and corrected the mistakes. The saving grace is that we found out early enough not to have this be a negative to him."

Considered a second or third-round prospect, Shelton learned Tuesday that Infomart, USA, a background check company based in Marietta, Ga., sent reports to approximately 18 teams saying Shelton was arrested and convicted for a 1999 aggravated assault and had a 2001 marijuana possession charge in 2001.

The problem is it didn't happen.

According to Schaffer and his partner Lamont Smith, Shelton has never been arrested, convicted or charged with any crime. He was 15 years old at the time of the supposed aggravated assault incident. His agents thought once they heard of the report that he was being confused with somebody with the same name.

After notifying Infomart of the mistake, the company returned a fax indicating Shelton's name was confused with an Eric David Shelton, who apparently had a 1999 assault conviction and a 2001 marijuana charge.

Shelton's agents sent a strong-worded letter to Infomart that their client was considering suing Infomart unless the company sent a complete retraction to all NFL teams clearing Shelton's name and confirming it was an erroneous report. Shelton is also considering going to a Federal District Court after the draft to recover damage, costs and attorney fees for the mistake.

"This is one of the pratfalls of the draft process," Shaffer said. "One of the things you hope for is teams are getting accurate information about players' characters and abilities."

The 6-2, 246-pound Shelton has 4.53 second 40 speed and a 38½ vertical jump. He originally went to Florida State after being a Parade All-American who averaged 10-yards a carry as a senior. He played as a freshman in 2001 but transferred to Louisville after feeling Louisville would give him a better chance to run the ball. He left Florida State on good terms, and coaches praised him for having great character on-and-off the field.

Fortunately, Shelton had representation that was able to find out the information once it was sent and clear up the error before it damaged the player's draft status.

[b]The world we live in today...
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I posted this somewhere, must've got buried by the 20 peter warrick and 40 terrell owens threads.