Darryl Strawberry Arrested After Latest Cocaine Binge

Jet, April 23, 2001

Darryl Strawberry just can't seem to keep it together.

Shortly after he ended his recent four-day disappearance from a drug treatment center, the former New York Yankee star was arrested by Hillsborough County officials at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, FL, for violating his probation.

In a report to the judge who will decide if Strawberry will go to prison, Florida probation officials said that Strawberry tested positive for cocaine use and violated the terms of his house arrest, which stemmed from a 1999 arrest on drug and solicitation of prostitution charges.

Strawberry, 39, who is being treated for colon cancer, told his probation officer that he was picked up at the center by a woman from an Alcoholics Anonymous program who was supposed to take him to the meeting.

"... Instead she began smoking crack cocaine and he couldn't resist the temptation," probation officer Shelley Tomlinson wrote in her report. "He said she took him to a nearby motel where there were a total of five men who had guns and took his jewelry."

The report came as Strawberry remained in St. Joseph's psychiatric ward while doctors evaluated him. At JET press time, it was undetermined how long Strawberry will be at St. Joseph's.

Strawberry, who has been given numerous chances for treatment to end his drug abuse, is to be sent to Hillsborough County Jail and held without bail once doctors declare him mentally stable.