Police: Ex-Raiders QB Todd Marinovich Found Nude, Possessing Marijuana In Backyard

IRVINE (CBSLA.com) — Former USC and Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich faces charges of trespassing and drugs after police say he was found nude and with marijuana in a residential backyard.

Police were called out at about 9 p.m. Friday about "a naked person seen on a trail," Irvine police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan said. Officers were sent to Venta Spur Trail to investigate and, while looking for the suspect, "heard noises from a backyard off of Bluecoat."

The residents of the home also called police, saying they saw the nude suspect in their yard, Hallinan said.

Officers found Marinovich, 47, without clothes and carrying marijuana in a "brown bag,"hiding in the backyard of a home off of Bluecoat, the commander said. He was cited and released after police booked him on suspicion of trespassing, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The former football star's legal woes date back to January 1991, when he was arrested while at USC. He entered a drug-counseling program then and eventually had the charges dropped.

He left USC after two years and was drafted in the first round by the then-Los Angeles Raiders in 1991. He was named a starter by the end of his first season and started his next as top quarterback, only to get released before the 1993 season.

Marinovich has previously acknowledged that his drug use contributed to the failure of his NFL career. He had subsequent stints with the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the British Columbia Lions in the 1990s.

In 1997, he did three months in jail for cultivating marijuana in his home. He was arrested for heroin possession in 2001 and was on probation for that arrest when he was busted again in 2005.

Marinovich pleaded guilty in October 2007 to felony possession of a small amount of methamphetamine and misdemeanor syringe possession and resisting arrest.

Marinovich grew up on the Balboa Peninsula of Newport Beach and set local and national high school passing records while leading his team at Capistrano Valley High School in Mission Viejo.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)