Lenny Dykstra, the former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies star, is facing new drug charges after Pennsylvania State Police discovered drugs and paraphernalia during a traffic stop on New Year's Day. The 62-year-old was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by a trooper from the Blooming Grove patrol unit in Pike County, approximately 25 miles east of Scranton, where Dykstra resides.
Police have confirmed that charges will be filed but have yet to specify the exact nature of the charges or the substances involved. Dykstra's lawyer, Matt Blit, indicated that a statement would be released later on Friday. The arrest adds to a lengthy history of legal troubles for the former baseball player, who earned the nickname 'Nails' for his gritty playing style.
Dykstra's legal woes began in earnest after his playing career. He served time in a California prison for bankruptcy fraud, receiving a sentence of more than six months for hiding baseball gloves and other memorabilia. This sentence ran concurrently with a three-year term for grand theft auto and providing a false financial statement, after he pleaded no contest. At the time, he claimed debts exceeding $31 million against only $50,000 in assets.
In 2012, Dykstra pleaded no contest to charges of exposing himself to women he met through Craigslist. More recently, in 2019, he pleaded guilty on behalf of his company, Titan Equity Group, to illegally renting out rooms in a New Jersey property he owned, agreeing to pay around $3,000 in fines.
That same year, drug and terroristic threat charges against Dykstra were dropped following an altercation with an Uber driver, despite police reporting they found cocaine, MDMA and marijuana among his belongings. His lawyer at the time described the incident as 'overblown' and maintained his innocence. In 2020, a New York Supreme Court judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit Dykstra filed against former Mets teammate Ron Darling, who alleged Dykstra made racist remarks during the 1986 World Series. The judge noted that Dykstra's reputation for 'unsportsmanlike conduct and bigotry' was already so tarnished that it could not be further damaged.
