Former Figure Skating Champ Nicole Bobek Charged in Meth Bust

Fox News ^ | 7/8/09 | Fox News Staff

[bondjamesbond]

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Former figure skating champion Nicole Bobek has been charged with being part of a Northern New Jersey drug ring.

The 31-year-old Bobek made her first court appearance Monday by video from the Hudson County Jail. (snip) She is charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson County.

Attorney Sam DeLuca entered a not guilty plea for Bobek. She was held on $200,000 bail and faces up to 10 years in prison if she's convicted. (snip)

Prosecutor Edward DeFazio says 20 people have been arrested in connection with the ring.

Bobek won the women's U.S. figure skating title in 1995.

[bondjamesbond]

[BGHater]

[avid]

Figure skating is only big in the US. Is she doing meth? Still looks very nice.

[Bobalu]

I hate to see stories like this.

I don’t think drugs should be illegal, but damn! meth is a dangerous substance :-( Shame on her if this is true.

[GnL]

Still looks very nice.

You forgot the sarcasm tag.

[mirkwood]

I hate when they say “north jersey” and then it is the lower counties. Sussex County is north jersey. I have 1 family member left there. All the rest of us got tired of the taxes and moved out of state.

[theDentist]

Europe is pretty big into figure skating as well... pity she went that way, dealing meth.

[taildragger]

I would like to know more.

Most at this level and caliber find great careers as coaches, (yes the may un-kubocko $).

THe danger of going to drugs to supplant the Adrenalin rush is real with sports like this, darn shame.

[VermiciousKnid]

What? You mean taking effective cold medicine off the shelves hasn’t stopped meth labs? The Devil you say!

[Gondring]

Europe is pretty big into figure skating as well... pity she went that way, dealing meth.

Her plea is not guilty.

[BullDog108]

Yowzer! GUILTY!!!

[roaddog727]

Trailer trash is trailer trash.

[Proud_USA_Republican]

I dated in girl who started in the sport in her pre-teens, had tried to get to the olympics and got close. By the time we started dating when she was 20, she was already a mess, but took me a longtime to realize all the damage going on within her. I found it one of the most fake and vile sports anyone can get involved in. The characters who train them and organize the events are mostly scum.

They have to train for hours a day / 7 days a week to get to the elite ranks. Not that I don't believe that if you want to be the best at something, you have to work your butt off, but the hypocrisy and dirt behind the scenes was off the chart. Most of them would bulk up to double their size and eat like horses from all that physical training, but to maintain their slim figures, they develop all kinds of eating disorders and drug habits to keep the weight off. Even most of the males and females who make it far in the sport are trainwrecks as people once they get off the ice. Eating disorders, drug abuse, depression, the works.....

The actual events they train to compete in are jokes. The judges play favorities and most of the scores are already decided on before they even hit the ice.

Sad to hear that Nicole ended up like this. Hopefully, she still finds a way to turn her life around into something more positive.

[CholeraJoe]

Can’t see her teeth, but she’s sure got the Meth complexion, doesn’t she?

[xsmommy]

knew i’d find you here! LOL!

[CholeraJoe]

Vanderburgh County, Indiana’s number 3 cash crop behind Corn and Plastics.

[redk]

I know the feeling. I live near Syracuse NY, to me that is upstate. Yet I read national news stories about events that happened in “upstate” and it’s always some place like Albany or Binghamton.

[library user]

Her legal troubles started before 1995, surprisingly.

In November 1994, Bobek was charged with first degree home invasion after using an access code to enter a friend's garage and home. She allegedly took cash from a purse, only to be foiled when the house owner arrived (at which point she returned the money). She claimed to have been given permission to enter the house and retrieve the cash by another member of the household. Bobek was 17 years old at the time; under Michigan law, anyone 17 or older may be subject to adult criminal laws[1] and is no longer considered a minor for legal purposes.

She pled guilty under Michigan's Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, which directs defendants between 17 and 20 years of age to probation and counseling. If they complete their probation, they are excused from a more permanent charge and given a "clean" record, with all records of the prior charge sealed from the public.

On January 19, 1995, Bobek was given "youthful trainee" status, along with two years' probation and a choice between fifty hours of community service and thirty days in jail. Information regarding her case was soon leaked by the media and spread widely through skating circles, as well as in the news media at large. Under the Youthful Trainee Act, cases are to remain confidential; so on February 16, she filed for dismissal of her case (though journalists and legal scholars have argued that Michigan law allows journalists to release information about juvenile criminals if there is "compelling public interest," [2] which could be argued due to her status as a figure skater in world class competition). She was given a closed (private) hearing, where the trial court granted her motion for probation discharge.[3]

On July 6, 2009, Bobek was charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. She was arraigned in Jersey City, New Jersey, on drug charges stemming from a case in New York. Bobek faces up to 10 years in prison if she is convicted. [4]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Bobek

[2ndClassCitizen]

Never legalize the drugs. At that point you have an industry and a lobby. The only answer is to decriminalize small amounts of some drugs.

Not meth ever. It is really bad.

Maybe coco leaves, maybe pot. Beyond that the other drugs have really bad consequences.

[Above My Pay Grade]

We downstaters define “upstate New York” as anything north of the Bronx/Westchester County border. :-)