T.J. Ward is confused about why he was arrested at his Tampa Bay home on an outstanding warrant early Wednesday.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety, 31, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and cannabis in excess of 20 grams, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Ward was booked and released on $2,500 bond.
Through his agent Josh Arnold, T.J. Ward insists he did nothing wrong.
The mess stemmed from an incident back in late October, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
That’s when Tampa police, responding to an “active intrusion alarm,” entered the athlete’s home and reportedly discovered 99.9 grams of marijuana in two glass jars. Ward was not home at the time, but a woman at his home said the pot was his.
The former Denver Bronco was later arrested, but it was not reported, as per the Times. Interviewed post-Miranda, Ward copped to smoking some of the stuff inside the jars.
After Ward failed to appear in court on those initial possession charges, the warrant was issued, reports TMZ Sports.
“Reports from various sources revolving around my client, T.J. Ward, and an incident nearly three months ago are inaccurate,” read his agent’s statement. “We dispute the claims being reported and T.J. adamantly denies these allegations. It was our understanding that the matter had been resolved in October and my client was never arrested at that time. Nor was he even at the residence when the police allegedly located marijuana. T.J. never received a notice to appear or any other notice of a court date regarding this matter in October or subsequently thereafter. T.J. is uncertain as to why this is coming up now given the fact it was resolved months ago, but nonetheless he looks forward to resolving the issue as expeditiously as possible.”