Pacman Jones pays $20,000 gambling debt to casino

5/23/2008 6:14 PM

By KEN RITTER
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam ``Pacman'' Jones paid $20,000 to a Las Vegas casino Friday to settle a criminal bad check case.

``We filed a criminal complaint. Within 24 hours, Mr. Jones found a way to make restitution,'' said Clark County District Attorney David Roger. ``Case closed.''

Jones paid $20,000 to cover three casino markers he received Sept. 3 at Caesars Palace, said Bernie Zadrowski, chief of the district attorney's bad check unit. Jones also paid $1,675 in fees and penalties.

In Nevada, unpaid casino markers, or loans to gamblers, are treated as bad checks and are turned over to the district attorney for prosecution.

Zadrowski said another $3,000 penalty cited in court documents filed Friday would have been added if a felony theft warrant had been issued. No such warrant was issued.

``It's unfortunate that a non-story became public,'' Jones' lawyer, Manny Arora, said after the money was paid.

Arora acknowledged Jones owed the debt to Caesars Palace, but said he had been quietly trying to arrange payment.

He accused Roger of filing the criminal complaint against Jones after a similar case involving retired NBA star Charles Barkley won widespread notoriety earlier in the week. Roger denied Arora's claim.

``In Mr. Jones' case, we were working with him since February to obtain restitution,'' Roger said. ``We determined he was not acting in good faith, and we filed a criminal complaint.''

Roger threatened to file criminal charges against Barkley before he settled his debt by paying $400,000 to reimburse the Wynn Las Vegas resort for four casino markers he received in October, Zadrowski said. Barkley also paid $40,000 in fees.

Gary Thompson, a spokesman for Caesars Palace owner Harrah's Entertainment Inc., declined comment on Jones' case, which was first reported Friday by the Las Vegas Sun.

Jones' Labor Day 2007 visit to Caesars came while he was facing felony coercion charges for his role in a strip club triple shooting that left a man paralyzed in Las Vegas in February 2007.

Jones pleaded no contest Dec. 6 to conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct in a deal that reduced two felony charges of coercion stemming from the strip club shooting. The coercion charges each carried a possible sentence of one to six years in prison.

In return, Jones agreed to tell police what he knew about the gunman. Jones never acknowledged any role in the shooting.

The alleged gunman, Arvin Kenti Edwards, was arrested in April after Jones picked him from a police lineup, and remains jailed in Seattle pending an extradition hearing.

The NFL has no policy against players gambling in casinos, as long as they do not wager on NFL games. However, the league is closely watching Jones, who was indefinitely suspended last season by commissioner Roger Goodell and recently was traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Dallas Cowboys.

``We're aware of it and we are looking into it,'' league spokesman Greg Aiello said Friday.

Cowboys spokesman Rich Dalrymple said the club had no comment.

Arora said Jones has not been paid since his suspension in March 2007 and has been ``moving assets around'' to pay bills. The suspension came after the star cornerback's sixth arrest since he was drafted by the Titans in the first round in 2005.

Jones had been scheduled for a base salary of $1.74 million in 2008 and had been under contract through 2009 before his suspension.

AP Sports Writer Jaime Aron in Dallas and AP Business Writer Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this report.