Irvin Arrested for Drug Possession
PLANO, Texas (AP) _ Police looking for someone else arrested former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin on a marijuana possession charge.
Irvin and 21-year-old Nelly Adham were arrested at a north Dallas apartment Wednesday. They were taken to Plano City Jail and charged with possession of less than 2 ounces of marijuana, a misdemeanor, Sgt. Mark Hunt said.
Irvin could face up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine if convicted.
He said he simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time and described the arrest as an unfortunate coincidence.
``I really don’t know what went on. I was visiting somebody and the police came looking for somebody else and I was in the house,″ Irvin said after his lawyer signed for his release.
``They tore the house up and they found I guess what you would call a roach, a half a joint, and that’s why I got arrested,″ he said.
Irvin said police found ``nothing on me.″
``They impounded my car, they searched my car, and they found nothing in my car,″ he said.
FBI spokeswoman Lori Bailey said officers from a drug task force went to the apartment to arrest a woman on heroin trafficking charges as part of a regional sweep. The woman named in the warrant was not at the apartment, but Irvin and Adham _ described as a friend of Irvin’s _ were there with marijuana, Hunt said.
``This is total happenstance. We had no prior knowledge he was going to be in there,″ Bailey said.
It was the second time in five years Irvin was charged with a drug crime. In 1996, he pleaded no contest to second-degree felony cocaine possession in exchange for four years of deferred probation, a $10,000 fine and dismissal of misdemeanor marijuana possession charges.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he would reserve comment on the latest charge until he knew more details, noting that in late 1996 Irvin was falsely accused of sexual assault.
``I’m going to be very sensitive, very careful how I come to any conclusions,″ Jones said from training camp in Wichita Falls.
Irvin, who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys, retired in July after seriously injuring his neck last Oct. 10 in a game at Philadelphia. He was hired to work on the Sunday pregame show on Fox Sports Net.
``We don’t yet have all the facts and until we do, we have no comment,″ Fox Sports Net spokesman Lou D’Ermilio said in New York.
Four days before he announced his retirement, Irvin completed his probation on the 1996 drug charge. The terms included 800 hours of community service. The NFL also suspended him for five games.
In 1998, he cut a teammate’s neck with a pair of scissors while horsing around in a dormitory during training camp.
Irvin caught 750 passes for 11,904 yards in his career. At the time of his final play, both figures ranked ninth in NFL history. Of the players ahead of him, only Jerry Rice had as many Super Bowl rings.