Former Raiders QB Todd Marinovich found naked, booked for drugs

ByABC News
August 22, 2016, 8:00 PM

— -- Former USC Trojans and Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich was found naked with marijuana and possibly methamphetamine in a residential area of Irvine, California.

Irvine Police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan said Monday that Marinovich was arrested Friday night after a call saying a naked man was on a hiking trail near homes. The officers found him in a backyard holding a brown bag containing marijuana and a substance that appeared to be meth but police are awaiting lab results.

The 47-year-old Marinovich was cited for trespassing, possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana, Hallinan told the Orange County Register on Monday.

Hallinan said Marinovich, an Irvine resident, was in a backyard of a home and had been seen naked on a neighborhood jogging path.

"He was carrying the items in a brown bag," Hallinan said.

Marinovich's problems with drugs have been well documented since rising to stardom as a freshman USC quarterback in the 1989 season, culminating with a Trojans victory in the Rose Bowl over Michigan.

He was booked for cocaine possession a month after the 1990 Sun Bowl and entered the NFL draft, where he was drafted in the first round by the then-Los Angeles Raiders.?

He was released by the Raiders after two seasons for repeated drug use, cementing his legacy as one of the biggest NFL busts in history. ?

According to the Orange County Register, Marinovich's rap sheet includes pleading guilty in 1997 to felony charges for cultivating marijuana.

In 2000, he attempted to revive his career with the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, but he was arrested on suspicion of heroin possession and cut eight months later.?

In 2005, he was charged again with drug possession. Two years later, Marinovich was booked for felony possession of a controlled substance, unauthorized possession of a hypodermic needle and resisting arrest.

In recent years, he has focused on his arts career.


The Associated Press contributed to this report.