Border bust for former Cougs qaurterback Leaf
McClatchy news services
Former Washington State star and NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf posted a $45,000 bond Wednesday in Bellingham 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.
Wendy Jones, chief corrections deputy for the Whatcom County Jail, confirmed that Leaf posted bond Wednesday evening. Leaf’s attorney told the court that Leaf would post the bond and return to Texas by himself. Leaf also was to return 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 today’s deadline.
“I assume when he was crossing the border, they picked him up,” Kelly said.
The ex-quarterback is charged with burglary to a habitation, a second-degree felony. Leaf also was 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, Texas, 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 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 San Diego Chargers.
During his NFL career, which included stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys, Leaf threw 14 touchdown passes and 36 interceptions. He was better known for outbursts directed at teammates, coaches, fans and reporters.
Leaf signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2002 but retired before training camp started.
At Washington State, Leaf led the Cougars to their first Rose Bowl in 67 years, a 21-16 loss to Michigan on Jan. 1, 1998. He set six single-season school records and five Pacific-10 Conference single-season marks that season and finished third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy behind Michigan’s Charles Woodson and Tennessee’s Peyton Manning.
