Reports: Ex-NBA Lakers draft pick Javaris Crittenton indicted on drug charges

By foxsports
Published

Former Los Angeles Lakers first-round draft pick Javaris Crittenton, already awaiting trial over his alleged role in a murder of a mother of four, was reportedly indicted Wednesday on charges that he allegedly conspired to deal cocaine and marijuana in Atlanta.

According to an ESPN report, an initial investigation by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency sparked the indictment that alleged Crittenton and 13 others coordinated in a plan to deal the drugs in the months before his indictment over his alleged role in the fatal shooting in August 2011.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the former Georgia Tech basketball star, already on a 12-hour curfew while awaiting the murder trial, was booked by the Fulton County Sheriff's office early Wednesday on felony drug charges.

ESPN reports that DEA agents, federal marshals and local police arrived at Crittenton's Fayetteville house shortly after 6 a.m. ET, taking him away in handcuffs to be held in the Fulton County Jail.

The ESPN report says Crittenton will be in court Thursday on the drug charges.

Crittendon and his cousin, Douglas Gamble, were indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in April 2013 for the murder of Julian Jones, 22, on the night of Aug. 19, 2011. According to the AJC, the victim was not the intended target, with Crittenton allegedly armed with a high-powered rifle and aiming for a man he believed robbed him. ESPN cites a police report that alleges Crittenton and his cousin were held up at gunpoint in April 2011 and robbed in Atlanta of more than $55,000 worth of jewelry and personal items.

Crittenton was originally drafted by the Lakers with the No. 19 overall pick in 2007 and was traded during his rookie season to the Memphis Gizzlies in the deal that sent center Pau Gasol to LA. Crittenton was then part of a three-team deal that sent him to the Washington Wizards in December 2008.

Crittenton became infamous over an incident when he and All-Star teammate Gilbert Arenas allegedly drew guns on each other in the Wizards' Verizon Center locker room over gambling debts. Crittenton pleaded guilty over the incident and received a year of probation on a misdemeanor gun possession charge. Both players were eventually suspended for the remainder of the season by then-NBA commissioner David Stern, with the Wizards cutting Crittenton after the suspension.