Michigan man accused of trying to toss drug-packed football into prison

[June 18, 2014]  By Brendan O'Brien
 
 (Reuters) - A Michigan man faces felony charges for allegedly trying to hurl a football stuffed with heroin and cell phones into a state prison yard, a corrections department spokesman said on Tuesday.

The man hopped out of a vehicle on Sunday morning and heaved the football, which landed short, between two security fences at a state prison in Jackson, Michigan, about 75 miles (120 km) west of Detroit, prisons spokesman Russ Marlan said.

"From where he was throwing, it would not have been that difficult of a throw to throw it in ... but you don't know how heavy it was," Marlan said.

The football had been sliced open, stuffed with drugs, phones and chargers and stitched back together, Marlan said.

The man, identified as Christen Deon-Sterling Moore of Detroit by the Detroit Free Press, was charged with furnishing contraband and cell phones to prisoners.

A prison officer apprehended the would-be quarterback and the driver after seeing him toss the football and turned them over to Michigan State Police, Marlan said.

It was not clear who the intended receiver was, Marlan said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Bill Trott)

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