RUN AND GUN: Ex–Los Angeles Laker Corie Blount was nabbed this week for possession of nearly 30 pounds of weed, armed weapons, and almost $30,000 in cash. |
Let’s just say it’s been a while since we’ve seen a pound-worthy entry to the annals of pot busts, as we did this week. But first a little history. The “supernaturally large quantity of marijuana” bust used to be a staple of the sports-crime scene, but it’s frankly been quite a long time since we’ve had a real good one. The closest we probably had to that this year was turned in by Travis “Are You My Daddy?” Henry, the father of at least nine children by nine different women who was busted in a trafficking rap that involved six pounds of weed and three keys of coke. But the drugs in question were not actually in Henry’s possession when he was collared, which takes a little of the comic sting out of that charge.
Beyond Henry, there have been a series of arrests of small-timers in recent years. One widely publicized case involved pseudo-star running back Ramonce Taylor of the Texas Longhorns, in whose car cops found more than five pounds of marijuana in a backpack. Taylor, in a strong “Who, Me?” performance, pulled a Ty Law and insisted those weren’t his five pounds of marijuana . . . in his car.
Of course the all-time “supernaturally large quantity of marijuana” bust belongs to former Dallas Cowboys lineman Nate Newton, who was arrested with 213 pounds of weed in his car, released on bond, and then arrested five weeks later with 175 more pounds of weed. In a stunning coincidence, Newton himself weighed in at around 388 at the time, matching the total poundage of his two weed busts.
There have been other legendary sports-weed busts, of course. Another ex-Cowboy, running back Sherman Williams, was alleged to have trafficked 1000 pounds of the green to one single customer, according to one arrest affidavit. In 2001, former Memphis basketball standout William Bedford was caught trafficking 25 pounds. Arkansas Razorbacks defensive tackle Jermaine Brooks sold pot poundage and got kicked off the team by Houston Nutt in 2002. Then there was Bam Morris, who, in addition to running a car-theft ring, got caught with six pounds of weed in his trunk. He and buddy Tamarick Vanover were eventually charged with intent to distribute some 220 pounds of the stuff.
And let’s not forget a close call that could’ve become the mother of all sports-weed cases — police in Tennessee found a car reportedly belonging to Adam “Pacman” Jones that was impounded in a seizure of more than 1600 pounds of marijuana (and 128 pounds of cocaine). The 2004 Caddy had PACMAN embroidered on the front seats, but cops could never find a more legally binding way to tie Jones to the car, and the drugs.
Which brings us to this week. Former Los Angeles Laker and Cincinnati Bearcat Corie Blount was arrested in Hamilton, Ohio, after sheriff’s deputies watched him accept a package containing 11 pounds of weed from the US Postal Service. They followed him home and seized another 18 pounds of marijuana; in addition, three guns (including an SKS assault rifle) and upward of $29,000 in cash were found. Humorously, Blount just earned a degree in criminal justice; he might get to see the business end of that process now.
