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POSTED: Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2009

Ex-QB Leaf arrested at Blaine border, will face drug charges in Texas

BELLINGHAM - Former Washington State University and NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested at the Peace Arch border crossing Wednesday, June 17, on Texas warrants for drug and burglary charges.

Leaf was attempting to enter the U.S. about 9 a.m. when Customs and Border Protection officials arrested him on the warrants from Randall County, Texas. He was intending to take a flight from Seattle to Texas to turn himself in, his attorneys said.

Leaf, 33, was booked into Whatcom County Jail and appeared in Superior Court Wednesday afternoon. He was represented by Bellingham attorney Jeffrey Lustick, who argued that Leaf was attempting to get to Seattle so he could fly back to Amarillo, Texas, and turn himself in.

Leaf refused to waive extradition rights and posted a $45,000 bail set by Superior Court Commissioner Martha Gross. Lustick said Leaf would likely fly down to Amarillo Wednesday night.

The former WSU star 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's Texas lawyer, Bill Kelly, had hoped Leaf would be released on a $15,000 bond, and that's what Lustick was expecting when he stepped into the courtroom. Whatcom County Prosecutor Elizabeth Gallery asked that bail be set at $100,000 cash or a $500,000 bond because Leaf was a flight risk, she said. Leaf has no ties to Texas, such as a job or a home, and he was in Canada and had applied for a Canadian work visa, Gallery said.

Leaf had been in Vancouver, B.C., since November 2008 getting help for his painkiller addiction at The Orchard rehabilitation center and attending self-help and support meetings, Lustick said. He said the anonymity of Vancouver was a relief to Leaf, who had made a name in America playing for the San Diego Chargers and Dallas Cowboys.

Leaf, who was clad in green jail scrubs, socks and sandals, stayed quiet through much of the hearing, telling the judge "thank you" at the end.

A native of Great Falls, Mont., Leaf was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in his junior year at Washington State, when he led the Cougars to their first Pacific-10 championship in school history.

He was the No. 2 NFL draft pick in 1998, right behind Tennessee's Peyton Manning, who went to the Indianapolis Colts.

"Ryan Leaf is a great kid, and that's not lawyer posturing," Kelly said. "He's had some pretty severe injuries because of his college and pro career. Like millions of Americans, some of them get addicted to alcohol, methamphetamine, a lot get addicted to painkillers."