West Virginia LB, son of ex-WWF heel charged in armed robbery

Branko Busick shows off a new Green Goblin tattoo prior to last December's Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.

It's been a quiet month or so in West Virginia since the sordid summer soap opera in Morgantown ended with Bill Stewart's resignation as head coach on June 10. A little too quiet, apparently, for linebacker Branko Busick, who broke the lull Monday night by getting himself arrested for armed robbery:

Officers responded to a complaint at about 5:14 p.m. Monday on High Street, according to a press release from the Morgantown Police Department. When the officers arrived on the scene, the male who had made the complaint was outside his apartment building.

The caller claimed that a male subject had pointed a gun at him and two acquaintances demanding money from them while they were inside the apartment. After telling the subject that he had no money, the subject struck him repeatedly with the gun before forcing him out of the apartment and onto the street level.

The caller told police he believed the male subject was still inside the apartment as he had not seen anyone leave and upon searching the building, officers found three males and one female. Busick was identified as one of the males and was taken into custody, charged with armed robbery.

Busick, 20, was released on $25,000 bond this morning. He's set to appear for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 1. His 21st birthday is on Friday.

West Virginia has yet to issue an official response to the arrest, but presumably Busick is no longer set to appear on the Mountaineer depth chart, where he was tentatively listed as a starter at inside linebacker for much of the spring. The emergence of Doug Rigg and Josh Francis on the outside left Busick as a likely backup inside behind returning starter Najee Goode, but his absence ?�still purely speculative ?�would leave the depth to a pair of newcomers, Notre Dame transfer Steve Paskorz and redshirt freshman Jewone Snow, who have yet to see the field as college linebackers.

According to the Associated Press, Busick's bond was reportedly paid by his father, Nick Busick, aka "Big Bully Busick," a short-lived WWF performer who took a brief leave from a career in law enforcement for his shot at big-time wrestling in the early nineties. Big Bully's finishing move was something called "the Stump Puller," but frankly, he didn't get to use it that often.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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