Cincinnati Reliever Johnny Ruffin Arrested, Jailed

CINCINNATI (AP) _ Cincinnati Reds reliever Johnny Ruffin spent a night in jail on misdemeanor traffic charges before he posted bond and was released Tuesday morning.

He pleaded innocent at his arraignment in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

The Reds were initially unaware of Ruffin’s arrest and had no response, team spokesman Mike Ringering said Tuesday afternoon.

Ruffin, 24, was a passenger in a car that was stopped at about 3 a.m. Tuesday in Cincinnati for an apparent traffic violation, police said. Ruffin was charged with failing to wear a seat belt.

A computer check revealed that Ruffin had failed to appear in court last year on Cincinnati charges of speeding and not having a driver’s license, so he was jailed in the Hamilton County Justice Center, police said.

Ruffin was released after he posted $50, equal to 10 percent of the $500 bond that Judge Nadine Allen ordered.

Lawyers for Ruffin and the prosecution are to appear before Municipal Judge William Mallory for a pretrial hearing May 14, when the Reds are scheduled to be at home to play the Colorado Rockies. Ruffin is not required to appear at that hearing because the charges are misdemeanors, his lawyer Kenneth Lawson said.

In September 1994, Ruffin was sentenced in Sarasota, Fla., for his conviction on a felony charge of attempted sexual battery in an alleged sex assault at a motel in January 1994. He was placed on five years probation and ordered to pay the victim’s counseling costs, perform 500 hours of community service and donate $5,000 to a Sarasota shelter for battered and sexually abused women.