Ex-MLB star Dykstra indicted on drug, terroristic threat charges

[October 11, 2018]  Former All-Star Lenny Dykstra has been indicted by a New Jersey grand jury and charged with drug possession and threatening an Uber driver during an alleged incident in May.

Dykstra now faces charges of possession of cocaine and possession of methamphetamine, as well as a terroristic threat charge. All are third-degree crimes.

A date for his arraignment in Union County, N.J., has not been set.

Dykstra played 12 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets and was part of the Mets' 1986 championship team. He lives in New Jersey.

In August, Dykstra, through his attorney Michael Brucki, rejected an offer on the terroristic threats charge that would have kept him out of prison. Brucki said Dykstra was innocent. At that time, the judge told Dykstra and his attorney the offer wouldn't be made again.
 

Dykstra was arrested May 23 after an alleged confrontation with the Uber driver.

The driver told police that Dykstra was picked up at Crescent Circle in Linden, N.J., with a listed destination in nearby Clark Township, but changed his mind and wanted to go to Staten Island.

Dykstra would need to use his phone to change the trip, the driver says he told him, sparking the trouble.

"Dykstra then placed a black pill bag with an object (the driver) believed to be a gun to his head and stated, 'Take me to Staten Island or I'll blow your (expletive) head off,'" according to the police documents.

 Former Major League baseball player Lenny Dykstra appears in Los Angeles Superior Court for an arraignment in San Fernando, California August 8, 2011. Dykstra is charged with 25 counts, including grand theft auto and possession of a controlled substance. REUTERS/Danny Moloshok

The driver pulled up in front of the Linden police station and fled the vehicle "screaming for help," according to the report.

An officer patted down Dykstra, who claimed he had no gun and that the driver had kidnapped him.

Police say that when the officer searched Dykstra's bags, he allegedly found a pill bottle containing a leafy green substance suspected to be marijuana, a glass pipe with suspected marijuana residue and a yellow straw with suspected powder cocaine residue.

Also allegedly found was two pills suspected to be MDMA, a baggie containing suspected marijuana and a clear vial containing suspected cocaine.

If convicted, Dykstra could face up to 10 years in prison. He has two previous convictions, including a federal fraud conviction.

--Field Level Media

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