Police suggest charges against ‘Pacman’ Jones
Las Vegas police asked prosecutors Wednesday to charge NFL player Adam “Pacman” Jones in connection with a strip club melee during NBA All-Star Weekend.
Detectives with the Violent Crimes Section presented their case to the district attorney’s office and recommended charges of coercion, a felony, and battery and making threats to life, both misdemeanors, against the star cornerback for the Tennessee Titans, Lt. George Castro said.
Police recommended the same charges in March, but District Attorney David Roger asked detectives to dig further to ensure a “lock-tight prosecution.”
In the weeks since, more people have come forward to corroborate earlier information, Castro said.
“We’ve gone back and done our homework and cleaned up a few things,” he said, adding that he did not expect a decision from prosecutors until next week at the earliest.
Police also recommended charges against two Jones associates, 37-year-old Robert Reid and 24-year-old Sadia Morrison. They recommended Reid, of Carson, Calif., be charged with misdemeanor battery and felony coercion. For Morrison, of New York, they recommended charges of felony coercion and battery with a deadly weapon.
Detectives were still investigating the shooting that took place shortly after a Feb. 19 brawl in the Minxx strip club, 4636 Wynn Road, near Tropicana Avenue and Valley View Boulevard. The shooting left bouncer Tom Urbanski paralyzed from the waist down.
The melee inside the club started about 4 a.m. after Cornelius Haynes Jr., better known as rapper Nelly, and Jones tossed hundreds of dollars of cash into the air and on stage for a visual effect known as “making it rain.” When some strippers started picking up the cash, Jones became irate and started fighting with bouncers, police said.
Bouncers broke up the fight and cleared the club. A short time later, a gunman walked to the front of the business and opened fire toward the door, hitting Urbanski, fellow bouncer Aaron Cudworth and a woman.
Minxx co-owner Robert Susnar has said the gunman and Jones entered the club together and sat next to each other. Jones also threatened to kill Cudworth after they scuffled during the brawl, he said.
Investigators have found no information linking Jones to the shooter, Castro said.
Jones’ Las Vegas lawyer, Robert Langford, said his client had nothing to do with the gunfire.
“They don’t have a case,” Langford said. “They have rumor. They have innuendo … but that’s it.”
He called the Minxx melee a “glorified bar fight” that was being overblown because of Jones’ star status. Langford also doubted the case was any stronger now than it was when police first presented their case.
Detectives compared Jones’ DNA to DNA on a bite mark left on Cudworth’s leg, and the DNA didn’t match, Langford said.
Earlier Wednesday, Jones withdrew his appeal of a yearlong suspension handed down by league commissioner Roger Goodell, who punished Jones for a slew of run-ins with the law. In a statement released Wednesday, Jones said he was committed to turning his life around.
“Mr. Jones has expressed regret,” Langford said. “This guy has been everything you would want a human being to be since this took place.”
Meanwhile, the 44-year-old Urbanski remained at a rehabilitation hospital in Colorado. The former pro wrestler had taken the Minxx job to supplement his real estate income and allow his wife, Kathy, to attend law school.
Urbanski has taken a wait-and-see approach to the developing criminal case in Las Vegas, said his lawyer, Matthew Dushoff.
“All he’s focused on is getting better. He can’t really focus on Pacman right now.”
