CriminalSports

criminalsports: Arrests

Thursday, October 03, 2002

CHARGED: Aaron Beasley, New York Jets

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Associated Press reports New York Jets cornerback Aaron Beasley has been charged with a misdemeanor of simple battery during a bar fight in Jacksonville on July 6. Hank Coxe, Beasley's attorney, said Tuesday the charge was filed against Beasley over the weekend when the Jets were in Jacksonville for Sunday's game with the Jaguars. Beasley, a former Jaguar, has a Nov. 25 court date in Duval County Court, but is not required to attend.

Desmond Harris, 24, of Jacksonville, told police Beasley punched him in the eye when he and Beasley were wrestling around in the parking lot outside the Voodoo Lounge.

4:10:52 PM

ARRESTED: Freddie Bradley, Former NFL

OXNARD, Calif. -- Associated Press reports former San Diego Chargers running back Freddie Bradley was arrested for investigation of selling rock cocaine. Bradley, 32, and his wife Edith, 30, were arrested on Sept. 26 at his home after police served a search warrant and found packaged rock cocaine, weapons and money, Detective Mike Young said.

Bradley pleaded innocent Monday to three felony charges of possession for sale of cocaine and sale and transportation of a controlled substance. His wife pleaded innocent to one count of possession for sale of cocaine base, according to the Ventura County district attorney's office.

4:07:18 PM

SURRENDER: New York Mets Employees
NEW YORK -- Associated Press reports a trusted New York Mets ex-team employee, three of his co-workers and two other suspects surrendered Thursday for allegedly stealing $2 million from the team between 1994 and 2000, Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced. Former Mets executive Russell Richardson, 46, of Hempstead, was identified as the reputed ringleader of the group. Richardson, who spent 17 years with the club, used his insider's position to illegally make $600,000, Brown said.
According to reports, the scams operated in a variety of ways. The simplest involved overbillling the Mets, like charging $50 for a $25 box of copy paper. The most complex involved the creation of a phony company that collected $350,000 for nonexistent computer and telephone equipment.

Richardson, the team's one-time director of technical services, faces up to 25 years in prison for alleged grand larceny, falsifying business records and other crimes. Co-defendant Haim Shaked, 47, of Brooklyn, a vendor who did business with the Mets, faced the same possible sentence as Richardson.

3:45:08 PM