FORMER GIANTS FOOTBALL PLAYER, 14 OTHERS ARRESTED IN DRUG BUST

SAN DIEGO- A San Diego gang task force has arrested a former NFL defensive
back and 14 others in a suspected drug trafficking operation, authorities said.

After a three-year investigation into the drug ring, police arrested
Brandon Sanders, 28, a former football player with the New York Giants, and
several suspected gang members for investigation of conspiracy to
distribute cocaine and marijuana to seven states.

Several of those arrested Friday were documented gang members known as
"OGs" or Original Gangsters, who have proven to be violent, said FBI
spokesman John Iannarelli.

Officials declined to give details of how the ring functioned, but said
dealers were far more sophisticated than the stereotypical gangsters
staking out a dark corner of a bad neighborhood. The drugs were to be
distributed in California, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada
and North Carolina.

During simultaneous raids Friday morning, about 150 law enforcement
officers from federal, state and local agencies served 13 search warrants
and seized seven vehicles and two dozen weapons, Iannarelli said. Arrests
were made in California, Nevada, Minnesota, Michigan and Arizona, where
Sanders was taken into custody.

Some were charged with being felons in possession of firearms. According to
a statement, the targets of the drug trafficking probe also are suspected
of other crimes, including assaults, counterfeit money trafficking,
prostitution and robberies.

Others arrested included Edric Johnson, 37, of San Diego; Jason McKittrick,
31, of San Diego; Lloyd Lake, 28, of El Cajon; Tim Patrick, 35, of Chula
Vista; Arnold Gay, 34, of Oxford, Mich.; Otis Henderson, 31, of San Diego;
Erick Whitlock, 36, of San Diego; and Paul Neahrine, 33, of Jamul.

Also taken into custody were Rainbow Bradley, 21, of San Diego; Brian
Walter McCaskill, 29, of San Diego; Ursla Jones, 28, of San Diego; Robert
Delkener, 35, of Pahrump, Nev.; Gregory Chambers, 55, of Columbia, Minn.;
and Sharea Moore, 22, currently in state custody on another matter.

Sanders played with the New York Giants in the late 1990s and with the
XFL's Las Vegas Outlaws.