BATON ROUGE -- A Houston man illegally sent two LSU football players text messages on behalf of a sports agent, an indictment alleges.

Associated Press

Charles Taplin, 42, was charged by an East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury with two counts of violating Louisiana's sports agent law on Oct. 13, says prosecutor Mark Pethke.

The law requires agents to register with the state and to notify a university in writing seven days before meeting with any athlete from the school.

Pethke said LSU Police arrested Taplin, who admitted contacting the players. The prosecutor did not name the players or the agent Taplin claimed to represent.

Pethke said Taplin, represented by Anthony Long of St. Francisville, is the second person accused of violating the sports agent law.

Pethke said his office is reviewing allegations against former assistant LSU strength and conditioning coach Travelle Gaines, 27, who is accused of inviting student athletes to his home to meet a sports agent and suggesting they sign with the agent.

LSU said in October that interviews with student athletes after Taplin's arrest two weeks earlier led them to Gaines, but there was no direct link between the two cases. A university spokeswoman also said the athletes did not realize an agent would be at Gaines' house, and there was no evidence that the student athletes violated the law.

Gaines has not been formally charged, Pethke said.

Maximum penalty for violating the law is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In addition, an illegal contact with a student who holds an athletic scholarship could be considered contract tampering under civil law.

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