Bronx High School Basketball Star Arrested for Robbery

Deonte Houston, 17, could see his college scholarship chances disappear.

A Bronx high school basketball star has been arrested on charges of armed robbery, according to a published report.

Deonte Houston, 17, was charged with first-degree robbery after allegedly participating in the stick-up of a 15-year-old boy, the New York Post reported on Thursday.

Houston and three of his friends reportedly rode their bikes into Pugsley Creek Park in Clason Point at around 6 p.m. Sunday and circled the boy, while one pointed a gun. The group allegedly stole the boy's iPod Touch and sped away.

The point guard's three alleged accomplices are still at large, according to the paper.

Houston, who attends school at Wings Academy, averaged 14 points and six assists as a senior, which prompted Division I colleges George Mason, Siena, Western Kentucky and Quinnipiac to consider recruitment. Now, friends and family are concerned that those opportunities may no longer be a possibility.

"He's getting ready to graduate," Houston's Grandfather, Wycliffe Rembert, 75, told the paper. "We don't need this kind of trouble."

Rembert has said that his grandson was with him all day on Sunday, leaving only twice: once to go to the store and once to drop off his girlfriend at the bus stop.

Citing police sources, the Post reported that Houston has previously been arrested for weapons possession and gambling. But teammates and coaches describe Houston as a "good kid."

"I never thought he would do something like that," Wings Academy guard Gerrell Martin said. "He's a good kid in the classroom, he's never disrespectful."

"I'm shocked, that's all I can say," head coach Billy Turnage added.

Prosecutors told the paper that Houston was picked out of a lineup by a witness and released without bail by Judge Carol Feinman.

Calls by NBC New York to Wings Academy Principal Wayne Cox were not immediately returned.

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