Strawberry arrested after drug binge

Troubled star admits smoking crack after violating house arrest, curfew

TAMPA, Fla., Oct. 25 -- Troubled slugger Darryl Strawberry is in jail after leaving a treatment center for a weekend drug binge with a friend. Strawberry was taken into custody Wednesday after testing positive for cocaine and saying he left the center where he's serving house arrest to use drugs, according to Joe Papy, regional director for the Florida Department of Corrections.

STRAWBERRY LEFT THE facility about 11 p.m. Saturday night and his probation officer was notified. He returned at about 3 a.m. Sunday. Strawberry admitted smoking crack cocaine and taking 10 Xanax, a tranquilizer used to treat anxiety

Papy said Strawberry told him he used drugs because of emotional distress. The one-time baseball star has colon cancer.

"Needless to say, we are always disappointed when an addict relapses," Papy said. "Darryl Strawberry is an addict."

Joseph Ficarrotta, Strawberry's defense attorney, could not be reached for comment on the latest charges.

Strawberry was less than two months into a two-year term of house arrest for his conviction on drug and prostitute-solicitation charges. He was serving his house arrest at a private drug-treatment center that state officials declined to identify.

Under his house arrest, Strawberry was prohibited from going anywhere without his parole officer's permission. He is now charged with two violations of his house arrest, violating curfew and using drugs.

His parole officer will recommend a judge hold Strawberry in jail for 30 days and fit him with an electronic monitoring device, Papy said.

In September, the suspended New York Yankees star was sentenced to two years' house arrest after admitting he violated probation by driving under the influence of medication and leaving the scene of an accident.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office did not return calls for comment on the case. Strawberry appears Thursday before a judge.

His legal status will be determined after his probation office files a report with the judge who sentenced him in September. Corrections officials said that report was expected to be filed Wednesday afternoon.

The arrest is the latest in a string of legal run-ins for the 1983 NL rookie of the year and eight-time All Star.

In February, Strawberry was suspended for at least a year, his third cocaine-related suspension from baseball in five years.

In 1998, Strawberry was diagnosed with colon cancer, which was treated with surgery and chemotherapy. In August, he underwent surgery to remove a tumor in his stomach.

He was arrested in September after trying to flee from a minor collision while driving to an appointment with his probation officer.

Strawberry said, and drug tests confirmed, he was under in the influence of pain killers. A misdemeanor charge is still pending from that accident.

© 2000 Associated Press.