An ex-Syracuse University football player who was arrested and charged last winter with burglarizing a South Campus apartment has been working on wellness programs for Hendricks Chapel.

“In my experience he’s hardworking, he’s responsible, he’s conscientious and he has a real feel for helping others,” said Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz, SU’s Buddhist chaplain, about Markus Pierce-Brewster. “It’s natural to him, it seems, to extend himself out in this way,” she added.

Pierce-Brewster, a former defensive end, was arrested Feb. 23 along with ex-defensive tackle Davon Walls for burglary and petit larceny. Police accuse them of stealing a flat-screen TV, Xbox, two iPods and Xbox games — worth about $950 — from an apartment on the 400 block of Winding Ridge Road.

During the burglary, Pierce-Brewster stayed outside the apartment and served as a “lookout,” according to court documents. Department of Public Safety surveillance cameras captured video of them with the stolen property, according to court documents. Both were dismissed from the football team on March 13.

Pierce-Brewster did not respond to four emails seeking an interview.

Eric Sherwood, Pierce-Brewster’s lawyer, said in an email the case is still pending and they’re continuing to work with the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office “in an attempt to reach an agreeable disposition of the pending charges.”

Sherwood said he hadn’t heard about Pierce-Brewster working for Hendricks.

Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs at SU, said Pierce-Brewster’s position with Hendricks would not go against any university policy or standard. Pierce-Brewster is not an enrolled student right now, he said.

Shoultz, the Buddhist chaplain, said a colleague introduced them during the summer because Pierce-Brewster was interested in meditation and yoga. She said Pierce-Brewster now assists in some classes that have a “wellness component.”

He also works on campus stress reduction programs, Shoultz said, as an example.

She said she knew of the charges against Pierce-Brewster before he started working at Hendricks. By that time, Shoultz said, she’d already gotten to know Pierce-Brewster as a person and thought very “positively” of him.

“I wasn’t concerned with having him work for me knowing that,” she said.

When asked if it’s been discussed what would happen if his case were to go forward, Shoultz said “no,” and that they’d deal with it then.

He’s been living at the Zen Center of Syracuse, which is about 15 minutes south of SU, Shoultz said. The center’s mission is to offer the practice of mediation to all people, making the community a more caring and compassionate place, according to its website.

Joe O’Brien, who has lived at the center for the last five to six years, said Pierce-Brewster is good-natured, intelligent and does everything they ask him to do.

About eight to 10 people live at the center full time, he said. To live there, you have to go through an interview process; there are no “casual invitations,” he said.

“I can’t tell you how much we like him,” O’Brien said. “It’s been a pleasure for us.”

Published on October 16, 2013 at 12:18 am

Contact Dylan: dmsegelb@syr.edu | @dylan_segelbaum