A Former MSU Football Player Is Facing Twelve Charges

OKTIBBEHA COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Today, we learn a former Mississippi State football player is back behind bars.

John Michael Hankerson is facing more serious charges in Oktibbeha County.

A former MSU student and football player with a bright future ahead, now sits in a jail cell.

Hankerson is facing twelve charges, in four separate investigations.

He’s charged with five counts of armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, and two counts of kidnapping by the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators say those charges stem from two investigations.

The first occurred on October 29th, where the kidnapping charges and at least one armed robbery charge started.

Then, December 17th, deputies say Hankerson and two other unidentified suspects, pistol whipped three victims and stole items from them at the Campus Trails Apartment Complex.

U.S. Marshals arrested him in Horn Lake on Wednesday.

Mississippi State University police arrested the former freshman on December 6th, for two separate incidents. He was charged with simple assault and false pretense. Both incidents reportedly happened in the student union.

Rivals.com ranked Hankerson as a three-star recruit. The South Bend, Indiana man was also ranked the 18th best player in the state, and was heavily recruited by other schools.

Oktibbeha County investigators say Hankerson was living on campus at the time of the incidents at Deavenport Hall.

Now, he’s being held in the Oktibbeha County Jail on a $420,000 bond.

Hankerson will have a court hearing in January.

If you have any information on this investigation, please call the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department or the Golden Triangle Crime Stoppers.