Marijuana was found by the SEMO Drug Task Force in the home of three current Southeast Missouri State University football players and one former player, along with drug paraphernalia and money.

Former player Hunter Bledsoe was arraigned Aug. 25 on felony charges for distributing a controlled substance, and current players Alex Knight and Wade Wright were scheduled to be arraigned Monday on misdemeanor counts of unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. Sophomore linebacker Brad Ivey also lived in the house but was not charged.

On June 24, members of the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the Southeast Missouri Drug Task Force searched their residence on North Fountain Street.

Task Force Officer Mike Alford wrote in a probable-cause statement that the search took place as a result of a narcotics investigation in which he applied for and received a state search warrant.

Ivey and Wright were detained during the search, while Knight and Bledsoe were not present. Knight and Bledsoe arrived at the house after Alford advised them that they would not be arrested at that time if they returned.

The police found and seized more than 30 items during their search including a digital scale, two marijuana cigarettes, a grinder, two bongs and a small bag of marijuana that were all in plain view in the living room. Two bong stems were also located in the kitchen area.

In Bledsoe's bedroom were two marijuana pipes, multiple bongs and bong stems, as well as bags of marijuana in a trash bag and in a dresser.

Alford wrote that Bledsoe cooperatively opened a safe in his room that contained three "large bags of marijuana," a "plastic bag with marijuana cookies" and $6,255 in cash. On top of the safe was a drug ledger.

One pipe and one bong stem were found in Knight's bedroom closet, and two bong stems and two marijuana roaches were found in Wright's bedroom. No items were seized from Ivey's bedroom.

Alford wrote that Knight admitted to owning the pipe found in his bedroom and Bledsoe admitted to selling marijuana. According to the report, Bledsoe said that all of the money in the safe was drug proceeds and that he was sent the marijuana for "free" from a person he knew from college. Bledsoe said that he was selling marijuana because "he could not get a job due to his playing college football" and that he had only been selling marijuana for three days.

Bledsoe took full ownership of the items in the living room and kitchen areas, so Ivey was not charged, according to Alford.

Bledsoe, who was still a member of the team at the time of the search, played in all but one game last season for Southeast and made four starts at inside linebacker. He is no longer enrolled at Southeast.

Junior punter Knight has started a total of 22 games for Southeast's football team over the past two seasons. He was ranked second in punting in the Ohio Valley Conference last season with an average of 41.4 yards per punt.

Senior long snapper Wright became the full-time long snapper for Southeast last season and started in all 12 games. He is a two-time Southeast Scholar-Athlete and also played in every game his sophomore year.

Sophomore inside linebacker Ivey saw playing time in nine of Southeast's games last season and made two back-to-back starts at the end of the season. He recorded 17 tackles and had two tackles for a loss in his freshman campaign.

Southeast's Student-Athlete Code of Conduct states that whenever a student-athlete is arrested or charged with illegal use of drugs, "the student-athlete will be immediately suspended, and the suspension may be lifted only by the Director of Athletics."

No suspensions have been publicly announced for Knight or Wright. Both participated in fall practices and are expected to start this season. The football team's first game is at 3 p.m. Saturday at the University of Missouri.