ESPN Men's Basketball

A grand jury indicted a Paramus, N.J., man Monday in connection with the March 2007 car accident that took the life of Jason Ray, the North Carolina student who performed as the school's Tar Heels mascot, The Record of Hackensack, N.J., reported.

Bergen County prosecutors said Armen Hovsepian's driver's license was suspended when the SUV he was driving struck Ray as he walked along the shoulder of Route 4 in Fort Lee on March 23, 2007, according to the report. Ray was in New Jersey with the Tar Heels at the NCAA Eastern Regional final, which was being played at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.

Ray, 21, was pronounced dead three days later.

Hovsepian's father, Gajik, 52, had told police that he was the one who was driving the SUV. Based on his statements, investigators at the time ruled the crash accidental.

But several months later, investigators received a tip from a witness who said Armen Hovsepian, 21, was behind the wheel, according to the report.

The Ray family was unaware of the grand jury indictment until it was contacted by ESPN.com.

"It baffles me that it's taken a year and a half to get to the point where we're starting to get some sort of answers," Emmitt Ray, Jason's father, told ESPN.com. "I don't understand it."

The indictment returned by the grand jury on Monday charges Armen Hovsepian with causing death while driving without a license. If convicted on the charge, he would face a sentence of up to five years in prison, the newspaper reported. The indictment also charges Gajik and Armen Hovsepian with hindering apprehension by providing false information to authorities.

Both men were free on bail pending an arraignment, according to the report.

"Not a day goes by that we don't miss Jason," Emmitt Ray said. "It still hurts real, real bad. And when you hear something like this, it hurts even worse -- especially when it looks like these people were being so deceitful."

Information from ESPN.com senior writer Wayne Drehs was used in this report.