Misdemeanor Charges in Former QBs Naked Backyard Debacle

MISSION VIEJO, CA — Troubled former USC, Raiders, and Capistrano Valley High School quarterback, Todd Marinovich received misdemeanor charges today for his August arrest.

Marinovich was found naked, with a sack-full of drugs in an Irvine area backyard in August when he was originally arrested.

With a history of narcotics-related arrests, the Newport Beach native faces a max sentence of three years in jail if convicted of the trespassing and drug related charges, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

The 47-year-old Irvine man will be arraigned on Nov. 9, with misdemeanor counts of public nudity, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia , public attempted aggravated trespass of a residence and trespass with interference of property rights, and one infraction for possession of marijuana.

The original call to Irvine Police Department came in on the evening of Aug. 19, when residents reported "a naked person seen on a trail," according to Irvine police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan.

Officers were sent to Venta Spur Trail to investigate and, while looking for the suspect, "heard noises from a backyard off of Bluecoat," he said.

Prosecutors and police allege that the ex-athlete, sans clothes, trespassed into the backyard of the home on Bluecoat, whose residents do not know him, and tried to open the sliding back door to get inside.

Marinovich reportedly left a brown bag containing meth, marijuana, syringes, a marijuana pipe and his wallet and driver's license on the nearby trail.

Marinovich's legal woes owing to drugs date back to January 1991, when he was arrested while at USC. He entered into a drug-counseling program then and eventually had charges dropped.

Marinovich left USC after two years and was drafted in the first round by the then-Los Angeles Raiders in 1991. He ascended to starter by the end of his first season and started his next as top quarterback, only to get released before the 1993 season.

Marinovich has acknowledged in the past that his drug use contributed to the failure of his NFL career. He had subsequent stints with the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the British Columbia Lions in the 1990s.

In 1997, he did three months in jail for cultivating marijuana in his home. He was arrested for heroin possession in 2001 and was on probation for that arrest when he was busted again in 2005.

Marinovich pleaded guilty in October 2007 to felony possession of a small amount of methamphetamine and misdemeanor syringe possession and resisting arrest.

Marinovich grew up on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach and set local and national high school passing records while leading his team at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

City News Service Contributed to this report.

Photo courtesy Irvine Police Department