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Former NFLQB arrested
espn.com
DALLAS -- Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf posted a $45,000 bond
Wednesday in Washington state for drug and burglary charges out of
Texas after being arrested by customs agents as he returned to the
United States from Canada.
James Farren, the district attorney in Randall County in West Texas,
said Leaf was arrested Wednesday by federal customs agents. Legal
assistant Jennifer Bonstein said Leaf declined to waive extradition
during a hearing Wednesday afternoon in Bellingham, Wash., about 90
miles north of Seattle.
Wendy Jones, chief corrections deputy for the Whatcom County Jail,
confirmed that Leaf posted bond Wednesday evening.
Leaf’s attorney in Washington told the court Leaf would post the bond
and return to Texas by himself. Leaf was also to come back to court in
Whatcom County on July 16, Bonstein said.
Bill Kelly, Leaf’s attorney in Texas, said his client was returning to
Texas to turn himself in by a Thursday deadline.
“I assume when he was crossing the border, they picked him up,” Kelly
said.
The ex-Washington State University and San Diego Chargers quarterback
is charged with burglary to a habitation, a second-degree felony. Leaf
was also indicted on seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance
by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance.
Leaf coached quarterbacks at West Texas A&M in Canyon, where the
indictment was returned in May.
Leaf, who resigned from West Texas A&M after being investigated for
drug crimes in November, was working in British Columbia, his attorney
said. Kelly, a former head football coach at the college, said Leaf
“has been to rehab and successfully completed it.”
Leaf, who coached for three seasons at West Texas A&M, spent four
seasons in the NFL after being chosen with the No. 2 pick in the 1998
draft by the Chargers.
In his NFL career, which included stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Dallas Cowboys, Leaf had 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He was
better known for outbursts directed at teammates, coaches, fans and
reporters.
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