Ex-NFL QB Arrested

April 25, 2000 / 11:05 PM EDT / AP

Todd Marinovich, a backup quarterback for the new Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, was arrested at practice Tuesday for investigation of felony sexual assault.

Marinovich, 30, was taken into custody without incident in the locker room at West Los Angeles College in Culver City after a woman told deputies she was raped early Tuesday, said Sgt. Norine Plett of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Marinovich was booked at the sheriff's Marina del Rey station on $50,000 bail, Plett said.

"This is an unfortunate situation that we have just learned about," Avengers spokesman John Tamanaha said.

"Ever since we brought Todd in six weeks ago, he's done everything we've asked of him from a football standpoint, and was making good progress on the field," he said.

Marv Marinovich said he hadn't been able to find out much about what happened to his son.

"I'd like to find out what happened myself. I can't get any information here," Marv Marinovich said. "I haven't spoken to Todd. I'm very concerned."

The alleged incident occurred at the younger Marinovich's Marina del Rey apartment shortly after midnight Tuesday, Plett said. The woman sought treatment at a hospital, where officials notified sheriff's deputies, who took a sexual assault report, listing Marinovich as the suspect.

"Based on her statements and evidence of the physical examination, they arrested Mr. Marinovich at the practice field," Plett said.

Marinovich, who played at Southern California and then with the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders, spent three months in jail in 1998 after pleading guilty to growing marijuana.

The former first-round NFL draft pick told The Associated Press recently that he's been drug and alcohol free "for a long time."