Ex-NFL QB Leaf arrested on Texas warrants as he returned to US from Canada

Leaf arrested on Texas charges at US-Canada border

DALLAS — Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was in custody Wednesday in Washington on drug and burglary charges out of Texas after being arrested by customs agents as he returned to the United States from Canada.

James Farren, the district attorney in Randall County in West Texas, said Leaf was arrested Wednesday by federal customs agents. Legal assistant Jennifer Bonstein said an extradition hearing was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Bellingham, Wash., about 90 miles north of Seattle.

Leaf had not been booked into the Whatcom County Jail by early Wednesday afternoon.

Bill Kelly, Leaf’s attorney, said his client was returning to Texas to turn himself in by a Thursday deadline.

“I assume when he was crossing the border, they picked him up,” Kelly said.

The ex-Washington State University and San Diego Chargers quarterback 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 coached quarterbacks at West Texas A&M in Canyon, where the indictment was returned in May.

If Leaf waives extradition, he will likely remain in custody until Texas authorities pick him up and escort him to Canyon, Bonstein said.

Leaf, who resigned from West Texas A&M after being investigated for drug crimes in November, was working in British Columbia, his attorney said. Kelly, a former head football coach at the college, said Leaf “has been to rehab and successfully completed it.”

Leaf, who coached for three seasons at West Texas A&M, spent four seasons in the NFL after being chosen with the No. 2 pick in the 1998 draft by the Chargers.

In his NFL career, that included stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dallas Cowboys, Leaf had 14 touchdowns and 36 interceptions. He was better known for outbursts directed at teammates, coaches, fans and reporters.