The Sacramento State ice hockey club was dissolved amid player eligibility violations and allegations that the team captain fabricated school identifications for non-students. –

In an unrelated case, captain Chris Perry was arrested in South Lake Tahoe Friday and charged with one count of grand theft. He is accused of collecting more than $13,000 in worker’s compensation benefits from a New York insurance company.-

Perry, 30, is a programs manager at the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena and a graduate student in recreation and leisure studies at Sac State. Recreational Sports Director Ken Morton was unaware of the arrest when reached for comment Monday.-

“We’ve never had anything like this, and we’ve been doing this 20 years,” Morton said.-

Morton said that he canceled the hockey team’s remaining games after a roster check confirmed only three of its 28 players met eligibility standards. University regulations require members of club teams to be enrolled in at least six units at Sac State. –

Morton brought the eligibility concerns to the attention of the Pacific Collegiate Hockey Association — the league in which the Hornets played — after members of the UC Davis hockey squad contacted him. –

The PCHA forwarded the team’s most recent roster to the Recreational Sports office late Feb. 19, and Morton canceled the club’s remaining games the following day. –

“We thought everything was running fine,” Morton said. “When we found out everything wasn’t running fine, we took action.” –

UC Davis hockey club President Nick Rood said he was alerted to the impropriety when one of his teammates told him Sac State captain Chris Perry recruited him to play for the Hornets. –

Rood said he notified Morton about ineligible players on Feb. 13, but that UC Davis received no response from Sac State until after UC Davis Sports Clubs Director Dave Dunham contacted Morton directly to request an investigation. –

“It’s pretty amazing that a team would have that many players ineligible,” Dunham said. “Especially when it’s a group that’s supported by public funds.” –

Associated Students, Inc. funds the Recreational Sports department, which budgeted $5,000 toward the hockey club’s 2003-04 operating costs. Morton said the university would await the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s investigation report before determining if the funds should be repaid by team administration. –

ACHA Div. II Vice President Mike Radakovich declined comment about the investigation Monday, saying he needed time to review documentation that accumulated while he attended last week’s ACHA National Tournaments.-

As the team captain and club president, Perry managed the ASI funds as well as the $13,000 difference he cited last year as the cost of running the team. In an interview with The State Hornet last November, Perry said the balance was earned through community contributions, fund-raising events and gate revenue from Hornet home games at the South Lake Tahoe Ice Arena. –

Former Sac State hockey players said this week that Perry lied to them about their eligibility requirements. Goaltender Chris Obradovich relocated from British Columbia after being recruited for the team, but has not attended classes since arriving to play for the Hornets. –

“I was just tricked like everyone else,” Obradovich said. “I didn’t know I had to go to school.” –

Teammate Jimmie Ricks said that Perry told him as long as Ricks was enrolled at Lake Tahoe Community College — which has no hockey club — then he could play for Sac State. –

In a statement co-authored with Ricks, Obradovich described an occurrence in which Perry came to his house Feb. 25 attempting to persuade him to believe the team was still in operation. –

The statement also refers to student ID cards that Obradovich said Perry had fabricated in case opponents demanded proof of eligibility. Obradovich said that Perry had spent time at the ice arena boasting to others about the quality of the fake ID’s. –

Word of the ID cards reached Rood at UC Davis in early February, at which time he contacted Perry about the Hornets-Aggies game scheduled for Feb. 20. Sac State student Activities Director Lou Camera said he has not seen evidence of the fake student ID’s, but urged any students with related information to come forward.-

Former Sac State hockey coach Jim Copel said he resigned his job after an extended period of dissension between him and Perry. He added that he was especially concerned after learning that Perry had possibly forged ID’s for his players. –

“I left the team,” Copel said. “I didn’t want to be a part of this.” –

Copel continues to work at the city-owned arena as the operations manager. Perry, who has been placed on administrative leave, is Copel’s immediate supervisor. –

El Dorado County Assistant District Attorney Hans Uthe said Perry has been collecting full disability payments from the New York State Insurance Fund since 1999, when he sustained a knee injury playing football with the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League.-

Uthe said that Perry continued to collect disability insurance even after he was hired by the ice arena and he had assumed leadership of the Sac State hockey club.-

“It looks like a really solid case,” Uthe said. “I don’t expect any trouble getting this to a court or a jury.”-

A grand theft charge typically carries a three-year prison term, Uthe added, but Perry is more likely to serve probation and a minimal jail sentence because he has no prior criminal record. –