| | Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs on Friday cut
return specialist Tamarick Vanover after it was revealed that he said he helped finance a drug-trafficking ring operated by a second
Chiefs player.
| |  | | | Vanover |
Before Vanover pleaded guilty to a car theft charge in February,
he admitted to an FBI agent that he had given former Chiefs running
back Bam Morris $40,000 to buy marijuana, according to a federal
criminal complaint made public Friday.
Vanover pleaded guilty in February to aiding and assisting in
the sale of a Ford Expedition that was stolen from Kansas City and
sold in Tallahassee, Fla., Vanover's home town.
In exchange for Vanover's cooperation, prosecutors agreed not to
charge him with further crimes arising out of the investigation.
Vanover promised to tell all he knew about what authorities
describe as a "large-scale, organized and structured" drug ring
that obtained marijuana and cocaine from sources in Mexico,
California and Texas for distribution in Kansas and Missouri.
Chiefs president Carl Peterson issued a statement Friday that
said Vanover was no longer a member of the Chiefs and would be
subject to discipline by the NFL if found to be in violation of the
league's substance abuse policy.
"Last month, I indicated that I would continue to weigh the
facts as they became known to me as a federal case involving Tamarick Vanover continued to evolve," the statement read. "In
light of information contained in a federal affidavit that has come
to my attention today relative to admitted activities involving
Vanover, I have found it necessary to terminate him as a member of
the Kansas City Chiefs."
On Thursday, Morris was charged with conspiracy to distribute at
least 220 pounds of marijuana, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said.
The charges resulted from an investigation by the FBI and the
Internal Revenue Service. Morris and two others are accused of
conspiring with others since at least January 1998 to distribute
marijuana in western Missouri and elsewhere.
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