Freshman Kevin Dorsey, one of three Gophers basketball players punished after a video-recorded sex act appeared on one of his social media accounts, reported that his cellphone was stolen from a Mall of America store days before the explicit imagery was posted online.

Bloomington Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley emphasized Thursday that his department is dealing solely with a report of a missing phone and not trying to determine what role, if any, the phone had in the recording of the sex act or the posting of that video on social media.

On Sunday, Dorsey told police the phone was stolen the night of Feb. 24 after he set it down while in House of Hoops, an athletic shoe store at the mall, Hartley said. The video appeared online on Feb. 26.

"Somebody walks up and takes" the phone between 7 and 9 p.m., Hartley said Dorsey reported. Hartley said he does not know why Dorsey waited until Feb. 28 before contacting police.

Hartley said there is in-store video during that time frame, and "we are following up" on what it might show.

Dorsey, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer were issued a suspension Tuesday for the rest of the season, less than 48 hours after reports surfaced of a sex video appearing on a social media account belonging to Dorsey, who was identified in the video by some of those who saw it online. The video has since been deleted, as has Dorsey's entire Twitter account.

AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, Star Tribune
Minnesota guard Kevin Dorsey

There has been no disclosure of when the video was recorded, but Dorsey's family said in a statement given to the St. Paul Pioneer Press that "Kevin did not post any sexually explicit images or videos, nor did he consent to any such videos being posted." Later, Kevin Dorsey Sr. declined to confirm the video's existence, let alone that his son was in it.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482