Pubdate: Thu, 06 May 2004
Source: Province, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2004 The Province
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476
Author: Matthew Ramsey

B.C. LION RAY JACOBS NABBED WITH COCAINE

Player Insists Someone Else Must Have Left The Drugs Found In His Car

B.C. Lions defensive end Ray Jacobs says he's heading home to North 
Carolina tomorrow to "get a hug from Mom" after being arrested early 
yesterday in Surrey with cocaine in his car.

"Really, it was just me being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Jacobs 
told The Province.

"I got caught up in a whirlwind. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time 
with the wrong person."

Surrey RCMP Const. Tim Shields said the arrest took place after a police 
surveillance team watched a car leaving a "well known" crack house.

Shields did not reveal the identity of the man arrested in a Surrey hotel 
parking lot, but said that charges of drug possession were being 
recommended to Crown counsel.

"Two or three" women in the car were known prostitutes, Shields said.

In an interview last night, Jacobs, 31, admitted there was cocaine in his 
car and that he had been arrested at 9 a.m. and released with a promise to 
appear in Surrey Provincial Court.

But he said the cocaine was not his and the "substance" was crushed into 
the floorboards of his vehicle.

Jacobs denied going to a crack house and insisted there were no prostitutes 
in his car.

Jacobs said he spent Tuesday evening at the Ozone nightclub in Surrey where 
he met a woman who was staying at a nearby hotel. He said he drove the 
woman to her hotel and then went home.

Jacobs said he returned to the hotel yesterday morning after an argument 
with his girlfriend.

While at the hotel, Jacobs said he loaned his car to someone to get food 
and that person must be responsible for the drugs in his car.

He insisted that media reports that he was arrested at a crack house are 
wrong and that he felt "antagonized."

"If I did get busted at a crack shack, that means crack would be there and 
I'd be busted," he said.

Lions head coach Wally Buono said he was waiting to hear from Jacobs and 
police before making any comments on Jacobs' future with the team.

"It's disappointing," Buono said of the news surrounding his six-foot-four, 
245-pound player. "Obviously there's always two sides to the story."

Jacobs joined the Lions in 2003 after being dropped by the Saskatchewan 
Roughriders. In previous interviews, he talked about his time with the 
'Riders as problematic, with bouts of binge drinking and a dispute over 
child-support payments.

A Saskatchewan players' committee ultimately decided Jacobs was not welcome 
back after he was suspended during training camp.

The Lions picked Jacobs up in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick.

It is not the first time he has played under Buono. Jacobs spent four 
seasons with the Calgary Stampeders with Buono at the helm before leaving 
to join the Roughriders as a free agent in February 2002.

When Buono gave him a second chance with the Lions, Jacobs praised his 
coach as supportive and trusting."

"I'm not going to wreck the trust he put in me. There's no way I'm going to 
wreck it."

Last night, Jacobs said he had worked very hard in the off-season and was 
looking forward to training camp, slated to begin May 22.
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