Ryan Leaf Pleads Guilty To Stealing Painkillers, Awaits Sentencing

Ryan Leaf was once facing up to 20 years in prison, but due to a plea agreement, he has a chance to avoid jail time, and any time he does serve will be much shorter than initially anticipated. Leaf, who was on probation in Texas because of a burglary arrest, was charged twice in a span of four days for drug and burglary charges in Montana. He’s pleaded guilty to one count of felony burglary and one count of criminal possession of a dangerous drug, and for that, prosecutors recommend he spend nine months in a secure drug-treatment facility.

Because he agreed to plead guilty to two felonies, the second burglary and drug charges were dropped. Cascade County District Judge Kenneth Neill commented on Leaf’s need for drug treatment.

Former San Diego Chargers quarterback Ryan Leaf was facing drug and burglary charges in the state of Montana, but he has a plea agreement:

Leaf has dealt with issues with drugs and the law ever since he left the NFL, where he is known as one of the biggest draft busts in recent memory. Leaf has been in jail since the beginning of April, after being arrested twice over the course of three days. The judge in the case has declined to comment on the report of a plea deal, and the former Charger also faces jail time in Texas from a 2010 plea deal under similar circumstances.

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf was officially charged with four felonies in his home state of Montana, stemming from an arrest in March for burglary and drug possession. Court documents released Friday revealed that Cascade County had charged Leaf with two counts of burglary, and two counts of criminal possession of a dangerous drug.

The documents also shed a little more light on the crimes, indicating that investigators were initially tipped off by area postal workers who said the former Washington State standout received frequent packages for which he paid $500 cash. Leaf admitted to receiving ten packages when confronted with these initial allegations.

After his latest run-in with the law, an arrest on burglary, theft and drug charges on Friday, legendary NFL bust Ryan Leaf took to Twitter to release a personal statement:

While people on Twitter often use abbreviations to cram as much as possible into an 140-character status update, Leaf used an application which let him link out to another site without a character limit.

Kimball Bennion of Great Falls Tribune, by way of Brian Floyd at CougCenter, reports that Leaf was arrested in Great Falls on Friday. Here are the details of the arrest available at this time:

This second arrest could be very bad news indeed for Leaf. We will provide more details as they become available.