Former Mets star Lenny Dykstra is once again in the spotlight, facing drug-related charges following a traffic stop in Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day, according to state police reports.
The 62-year-old, who was part of the Mets’ 1986 World Series championship team, was a passenger in a 2015 GMC Sierra pickup truck. The vehicle was pulled over in Pike County near Scranton, where Dykstra resides, due to “motor vehicle code violations.”
During the stop, authorities reportedly found that Dykstra was “in possession of narcotics and narcotic-related equipment/paraphernalia,” as detailed in a police report reviewed by the Daily News. While Dykstra was noted as the “arrestee,” the driver of the vehicle remains unidentified.
Although police have announced that charges are forthcoming, they have yet to elaborate on what specific charges will be filed or identify the substances involved.
Dykstra’s attorney, Matthew Blit, has refuted the allegations, expressing confidence that Dykstra will be “swiftly absolved” of any wrongdoing.
Blit stated, “Lenny Dykstra was simply a passenger in a vehicle that was not his. The actual driver and owner was detained on suspicion of driving under the influence. Lenny was neither accused of being under the influence nor was he arrested or taken into custody at the scene.”
Dykstra has had his fair share of run-ins with the law. In April 2012, he pleaded no contest to exposing himself to women he met through Craigslist.
He also served time in a California prison for bankruptcy fraud and money laundering after pleading guilty to hiding baseball gloves and other memorabilia from his time in the MLB, which were supposed to be a part of his bankruptcy filing.
That six-month sentence ran concurrent with a three-year sentence for pleading no contest to grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement. He claimed that he owed more than $31 million and had only $50,000 in assets, despite having hid or sold at least $200,000 worth of items after filing for Chapter 11 in 2009.
Six years after Dykstra was released in prison in 2013, he pleaded guilty on behalf of his company, Titan Equity Group, to illegally renting out rooms in a New Jersey home it owned, agreeing to pay about $3,000 in fines.
That same year, a judge dropped drug and terroristic threat charges against Dykstra stemming from an incident with an Uber driver in Linden, N.J. Police said they found cocaine, MDMA and marijuana among his belongings, while the driver claimed Dykstra held a gun to his head, though no weapon was found.
Prior to his legal woes, Dykstra spent 12 years in the MLB, playing for the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies. In addition to being a World Series winner, the centerfielder was also a three-time All-Star and a Silver Slugger winner. He last played in 1996, though he launched a comeback attempt during spring training in 1998 before finally retiring at the age of 35.
With News Wire Services
