Authorities arrested former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf on Friday in Palm Desert, California, on a charge of misdemeanor domestic battery. Police booked him into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Leaf was released on $5,000 bail on Friday night.
Details of the incident have not surfaced, but Leaf has a court date set for Sept. 25. The police records only referred to the alleged victim as a spouse, former spouse, fiancee, dating partner or co-parent in the arrest records. According to the New York Post, Leaf has been engaged to Anna Kleinsorge since 2017. He and the former Georgetown volleyball player have one child together.
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Leaf, the former overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, is considered to be one of the league’s biggest draft busts considering that his career only lasted three years. The San Diego Chargers selected him immediately after the Indianapolis Colts drafted Peyton Manning, but he only spent two years in Southern California. He was a member of the Dallas Cowboys during his final season in the league but never played again after the 2001 season.
Leaf began self-medicating with Vicodin following his career, and he later faced a drug and robbery indictment in Texas in 2009. Leaf then spent two years in prison after breaking into a Montana home to steal prescription drugs. The former QB was initially sentenced to five years in prison, which included nine months in a locked drug treatment facility. However, the Montana Department of Corrections removed Leaf from the program in 2013.
“The Montana Department of Corrections terminated Leaf from the treatment program and placed him in prison after he was found guilty of behavior that violated conditions of his drug treatment program. The violations included threatening a program staff member,” Great Falls regional probation and parole administrator Dawn Handa said in a statement.
Following these legal issues, Leaf has worked to rebuild his reputation in the years since leaving prison. He even landed a job with ESPN ahead of the 2019 college football season to provide analysis. Leaf celebrated his appearances on the Worldwide Leader in Sports with a tweet discussing his road to recovery.
“How’s this for a story…2nd Pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. Crash & Burn so bad many consider the biggest draft bust ever, goes to prison, chooses to get back up and carry on. 6 years later, employed by @espn living the dream and cohosting #nfllive for the 1st time today! #soberlife,” Leaf wrote on March 5, 2020.
