Former baseball star Lenny Dykstra is facing legal troubles after Pennsylvania State Police reported finding drugs and related paraphernalia on him during a traffic stop on New Year’s Day.
Dykstra, now 62, was a passenger in a car stopped by a Blooming Grove patrol unit officer in Pike County, roughly 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Scranton, where he resides.
The police have announced that charges will be forthcoming, although they have not yet disclosed the specific allegations or the types of drugs involved.
Attempts to reach Dykstra for comment were made via a phone number associated with him. His attorney, Matt Blit, mentioned that a formal statement would be issued later on Friday.
Dykstra, renowned for his determined play with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, earned the nickname “Nails.” After retiring, he ventured into business but later encountered numerous legal challenges.
He served time in a Californian prison for bankruptcy fraud, with a sentence exceeding six months for concealing baseball memorabilia. This was in conjunction with a three-year sentence for pleading no contest to grand theft auto and falsifying financial statements. He admitted to liabilities exceeding $31 million against assets of just $50,000.
In April 2012, Dykstra pleaded no contest to exposing himself to women he met through Craigslist.
In 2019, Dykstra pleaded guilty on behalf of his company, Titan Equity Group, to illegally renting out rooms in a New Jersey house that it owned. He agreed to pay about $3,000 in fines.
That same year a judge dropped drug and terroristic threat charges against Dykstra after an altercation with an Uber driver. Police said they found cocaine, MDMA and marijuana among his belongings. Dykstra’s lawyer called that incident “overblown” and said he was innocent.
And in 2020 a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit that Dykstra filed against former Mets teammate Ron Darling over his allegation that Dykstra made racist remarks toward an opponent during the 1986 World Series.
Justice Robert D. Kalish said Dykstra’s reputation “for unsportsmanlike conduct and bigotry” had already been so tarnished that it could not be damaged further.
“Based on the papers submitted on this motion, prior to the publication of the book, Dykstra was infamous for being, among other things, racist, misogynist, and anti-gay, as well as a sexual predator, a drug-abuser, a thief, and an embezzler,” Kalish wrote.
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