Lenny Dykstra, who rose to fame in the 1980s while playing for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, was facing charges after the police found drugs inside a vehicle the former baseball star was in on Thursday.
The Pennsylvania State Police said in a report that a trooper found Mr. Dykstra, 62, in possession of narcotics and related equipment during a traffic stop in Pike County, east of where he lives in Scranton, on New Year’s Day.
The police said that they would file charges but did not specify what they would be or what type of drugs they found in the vehicle. No charges had been filed against Mr. Dykstra by Friday night, according to his lawyer, Matthew Blit.
Mr. Blit said that Mr. Dykstra had been a passenger in a vehicle that did not belong to him. He was not taken into custody or detained on the scene, Mr. Blit added.
“The drugs weren’t Lenny’s,” Mr. Blit said, adding that he would seek to have any charges brought against Mr. Dykstra dropped. The driver and owner of the vehicle was taken into custody at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence, Mr. Blit said.
Mr. Dykstra was known as Nails during his 12-year career with the Mets and the Phillies. He won the 1986 World Series with the Mets and was a three-time Major League Baseball All-Star.
After retiring from baseball, he worked as a businessman until he faced a severe financial and legal downfall. He filed for bankruptcy in 2009, claiming more than $31 million in debt. The filing led to federal charges in 2011 after investigators discovered evidence of fraud.
Mr. Dykstra was arrested in 2011 on charges of grand theft auto and drug possession. He was sentenced in 2012 to three years in California prison over crimes including grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement. He also received a federal sentence that year of more than six months for bankruptcy fraud.
After his release from prison in 2013, Mr. Dykstra was arrested in 2018 on charges of drug possession and making terroristic threats. He eventually pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in 2019.
In 2020, a judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit he had filed against Ron Darling, his former Mets teammate, ruling that Mr. Dykstra’s reputation was already so tarnished that it could not be further damaged.
John Yoon is a Times reporter based in Seoul who covers breaking and trending news.
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