'Pacman' Arrested, Released On Charges In Las Vegas

Friday, June 22nd 2007, 10:11 am

By: News On 6

LAS VEGAS (AP) _ Suspended NFL player Adam ``Pacman'' Jones surrendered and was released on $20,000 bail early Friday on felony charges in a strip club melee that preceded a triple shooting.

Jones is scheduled to return for a July 27 appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court, his lawyer, Robert Langford, said Friday. A booking photograph released by police showed the Tennessee Titans cornerback cut his hair, shedding his distinctive dreadlocks.

He will plead not guilty to two felony charges of coercion stemming from allegations he threatened to kill Minxx club employees and that he bit a bar bouncer, his lawyer said.

If convicted, Jones faces a maximum of 12 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Two associates _ Sadia Morrison and Robert Reid _ were scheduled to turn themselves in later Friday, Langford said. They also face felony charges in the Feb. 19 melee at the club several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip during the NBA All-Star Game weekend.

Jones ``was in and out around 2 a.m.,'' said Lt. Jason Letkiewicz, a Las Vegas police watch commander.

After his release, Jones flew to Nashville, Tenn., said another lawyer, Manny Arora, who remained in Las Vegas to meet with Langford and Clark County District Attorney David Roger, who filed charges Wednesday against Jones, Morrison and Reid.

The charges in Las Vegas have cast more doubt on Jones' playing status with the Titans. Since he was drafted in April 2005, he has been arrested six times _ although he has not been convicted of any crimes.

The 23-year-old Jones has been involved in at least 11 separate police investigations, authorities say, and he's currently sought by Atlanta-area police for questioning in a shooting early Monday after a fight at a strip club there.

Jones has been suspended for the upcoming NFL season for disciplinary reasons, although league and team officials had said he might be reinstated for good behavior after the Titans' 10th regular-season game.

Las Vegas police have described Reid, 37, of Carson, Calif., as Jones' bodyguard. He faces one felony coercion charge alleging he attacked a bouncer who tried to restrain Jones.

Morrison, 25, of New York, faces five charges including coercion, felony assault with a deadly weapon and battery stemming from allegations that she hit a bouncer in the head with a bottle and attacked other club employees with a chair and a stanchion.

Police have released an image drawn from surveillance cameras of a person sought as a ``person of interest'' in the shooting outside the club, which left a bar bouncer paralyzed and two other people with less serious wounds.

Las Vegas police also want to question Jones in an altercation reported at another area strip club several days before the Minxx shooting.