Dykstra pleads not guilty to drugs, theft

Sports Log

June 17, 2011

Baseball

Former Mets and Phillies outfielder Lenny Dykstra pleaded not guilty yesterday to grand theft auto and drug possession charges in Los Angeles County Superior Court and remains in jail on $500,000 bail. Dykstra was charged with 25 counts and faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors say Dykstra, his accountant, and a friend leased three high-end cars by providing phony information and claiming credit through a phony business. Officers who arrested Dykstra at his Los Angeles home in April say they found cocaine, Ecstasy, and synthetic human growth hormone … Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon has extended settlement talks in the divorce case of Jamie and Frank McCourt involving ownership of the Dodgers, setting a hearing for today to determine if both sides had reached a deal.

Colleges

NCAA to Kentucky: Change Calipari mark The University of Kentucky says it will change basketball coach John Calipari’s career record of 500 victories because of 42 vacated wins from his time at Memphis and University of Massachusetts. In a statement, Kentucky said it had consulted with the NCAA and determined it was “in error’’ to have celebrated Calipari’s 500th career win against Florida Feb. 26 … Dr. Barry J. Maron, a cardiologist and expert in sudden deaths in young athletes, testified at the wrongful death trial that University of Central Florida football player Ereck Plancher died in March 2008 from complications of sickle cell trait and could not have died from a heart problem … University of New Mexico’s Deshon Marman was arrested and removed from an airplane in San Francisco after he refused a U.S. Airways employee’s request to pull up his pants, which were below his buttocks, exposing his boxer shorts … Villanova’s Sheila Reid won the Honda Award for track, six months after she was recognized in cross-country.

Basketball