UCLA players accused of shoplifting return home

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Three UCLA basketball players detained in China following accusations of shoplifting are headed home. Cody Riley, Jalen Hill, and LiAngelo Ball allegedly stole sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou. Surveillance cameras reportedly captured the theft. The three freshmen did not play in the game against Georgia Tech in Shanghai, and their teammates traveled home without them Saturday. Earlier Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he talked to his Chinese President Xi Jinping about the men. “They’re working on it right now,” Trump told reporters as he left the Philippines at the end of a 12-day tour of Asia. Chinese police detained Riley, Hill, and Ball last week, releasing them Wednesday on bail but confining them in a lakeside hotel in Hangzhou. China’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the case, but officials reportedly reduced the charges against the men.

Leigh Jones

Leigh is features editor for WORLD. She is a World Journalism Institute graduate who spent six years as a newspaper reporter in Texas before joining WORLD News Group. Leigh also co-wrote Infinite Monster: Courage, Hope, and Resurrection in the Face of One of America's Largest Hurricanes. She resides with her husband and daughter in Houston, Texas.