Wrestling Champion Kurt Angle Busted
MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. (CBS/AP) Olympic gold medalist; titan of wrestling; jailbird?
Kurt Angle, the current heavyweight champion of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, is known for his prowess in the ring, but now the mammoth athlete may be competing behind bars after being arrested for possession of human growth hormone.
Angle was detained about 7:50 a.m. Saturday in a strip mall parking lot in suburban Pittsburgh. Officers charged the athlete with possession of an illegal substance and violating an order of protection. He was scheduled to appear in a TNA Wrestling event Sunday night in Orlando, Fla.
His girlfriend, Rhaka Khan, who is also a professional wrestler, said she obtained a protection order about 1 1/2 hours earlier, after the two fought Friday night. Khan alleged that Angle had circled the lot staring at her as she sat in a coffee shop, according to a police affidavit.
Police said they found the human growth hormone Hygetropin in Angle's car. The wrestler told them he had a prescription for the drug. He also told officers he had not seen the woman and was looking for a hotel because he was barred from his home.
Angle, 40, was charged with violating the order of protection, harassment, possession of drugs and paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license.
He posted bail and is scheduled to appear for a hearing Tuesday on the drug and harassment charges and Wednesday on the charge of violating the protection order, a court clerk said.
Angle's attorney, Michael Santicola, said Angle stopped at a coffee shop on his way to a hotel and the woman happened to be there.
Steven Godfrey, spokesman for Nashville, Tenn.-based TNA Wrestling, declined to comment on the arrest but said the main event between Angle, Sting and "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan would go on as scheduled.
Godfrey also said TNA has a drug policy in place for staff and performers, but he declined to release the details.
Angle is a two-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Clarion University in western Pennsylvania. He won the 220-pound championship at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, defeating Iran's Abbas Jadidi for the gold medal, and has been a professional wrestler since 1998.
In September, Angle was found not guilty of drunken driving in Moon Township outside Pittsburgh. A motorist told police Angle had cut her off while leaving a bar parking lot.