Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf arrested for alleged domestic battery
Ryan Leaf attends a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics at Staples Center on January 23, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
PALM DESERT, Calif. - Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was arrested Friday afternoon in Palm Desert for suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery, the latest in a series of legal troubles dating back to 2009.
Leaf, 44, was arrested about 2 p.m. on Grapevine Street in Palm Desert, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. The exact location was not released.
Leaf was booked for domestic battery and held at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility on $5,000 bail, the sheriff's department reported. As of 9 p.m. Friday, the sheriff's department's records did not show that Leaf had been released.
Leaf is scheduled to appear in court at the Larson Justice Center in Indio at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
Leaf's legal problems began with an indictment for burglary and controlled-substance charges in Texas in 2009. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to seven counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and one count of delivery of a simulated controlled substance, all felonies, and was sentenced to 10 years of probation fined $20,000.
Leaf was sentenced on Sept. 9, 2014, to five years in a Texas prison for violating parole from a 2012 drug possession charge, but prosecutors allowed him to use his time served in Montana to fulfill the sentence. He was released from prison on Dec. 3, 2014.
Leaf was the second selection in the 1998 NFL draft behind Peyton Manning. The NFL Network documentary series, "NFL Top 10," ranked him as the No. 1 draft bust of all time.
Leaf played for the San Diego Chargers in the 1998 and 2000 seasons, missing the 1999 season because of a shoulder injury.
Leaf was released by the Chargers following the 2000 season. He spent the 2001 preseason with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but was released before the start of the season.
Leaf played four games with the Dallas Cowboys in 2001, starting three, all losses, and was released following the season, ending his playing career.
Leaf joined ESPN as a college football analyst in 2019 after being a studio and game analyst for the Pac-12 Network.