Jazz player's brother arrested

The half-brother of Utah Jazz player Robert Whaley has been arrested after a stand-off with Salt Lake County Sheriff's gang detectives.

Police were looking for Frank Barnes, 24, on a $10,000 warrant on aggravated assault, a second-degree felony. Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Paul Jaroscak said gang unit detectives had information that Barnes was staying at his half-brother's home Saturday night.

"The gang unit went to the condo and made phone contact with him," Jaroscak said Monday. "He disguised his voice and said it wasn't him."

Jaroscak said after hanging up the phone, Barnes attempted to run out the back door, but found an officer with a K-9 in the back yard. For the next half-hour, police said, Barnes remained holed up in Whaley's condominium, refusing to come out.

"We finally had one of his friends call in and convince him to surrender," Jaroscak said. "He gave himself up."

Barnes was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on the warrant and obstruction of justice, a class A misdemeanor. Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies said Barnes also had an aggravated assault warrant for his arrest in Michigan, but authorities were not planning to extradite him.

Jazz basketball operations senior vice president Kevin O'Connor suggested the team will not hold the matter against Whaley, who was a second-round selection in last June's NBA Draft and played sparingly as a rookie big man this season.

"The biggest issue is this: His half-brother was arrested at Robert's place," O'Connor said, "but Robert was not there, nor was he (Whaley) involved in any way."

Police said Barnes has no permanent address, but "floated around" between Whaley's condo and friends' homes.

Whaley himself has been in trouble with the law before. He and fellow rookie Deron Williams were cited by Park City police after lying to officers about their identities after a fight at a nightclub. The two have since entered a plea in Park City's justice court and paid fines associated with the charges.

Contributing: Tim Buckley

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com