ORLANDO, Fla. — Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo hopes to continue working with Kayshon Boutte after the wide receiver’s arrest on felony gambling charges in January.
Boutte, a 2023 sixth-round pick, was arrested on a felony charge of computer fraud and one misdemeanor count of Gaming Prohibited for Persons under 21, Louisiana State Police announced in January.
“We’re continuing to gather information on that. He’s still on the team,” Mayo said Monday. “Hopefully, we can continue to develop this player but also develop him as a man as well going forward. I think it’s important to remember some of these guys are very young and they’ve made mistakes in the past. It’s easy to just throw them away but there are certain instances where you can help somebody out and I feel like we have a good player development group there that will definitely help us going forward.”
According to officials, Boutte used an alias account to circumvent the age requirement for placing sports wagers in Louisiana from April, 6, 2022, through May 7, 2023, the date of his 21st birthday. Boutte is accused of placing more than 8,900 wagers, including at least six on LSU while he played for the school’s football team. He allegedly created the alias account, username “kayshonboutte01,” under the fictitious identity “Kayla Fortenberry.”
Boutte’s activity was flagged after he allegedly created a second account, username “kayshonboutte07,” last June from Massachusetts. The second account used a Regions Bank Visa card that once funded the Fortenberry account, authorities said. According to the warrant, the Visa card belonged to his mother.
Boutte was a five-star recruit before committing to LSU, where he played three seasons for the Tigers. He caught two passes for 19 yards in five games as a rookie with the Patriots after making the team’s initial 53-man roster.
The Patriots’ wide receiver room is currently loaded with players who primarily line up at the “Z” or slot positions with Kendrick Bourne, DeMario Douglas, K.J. Osborn, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton. Boutte and Jalen Reagor are two of the players on the roster who have experience playing “X” receiver.
WAFB in Baton Rouge reported Boutte turned himself in to authorities, and arrangements were made for him to post a $6,000 bond and receive his release from the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges could follow, according to state police, who claim they were first contacted in July 2023 about a “prohibited person” possibly making several sports wagers.
According to the warrant, authorities were granted a court order in September for a list of LSU football personnel with access to the team’s facility at the time and place Boutte allegedly made his bets in 2022, when he was underage. Following that list and GPS tracking data from FanDuel Sportsbook, plus court-ordered user information from Cox Communications and AT&T, police were able to identify Boutte and charge him.
Authorities claim Boutte deposited a total of $132,147.53 into the account and won $556,267.58, but used most of the money to fund other bets. He ultimately withdrew $50,282.36 from the account, according to the warrant.