Getty Image
Isaiah Buggs became the latest member of the Kansas City Chiefs to land in legal trouble after he was charged with animal abuse, but his agent hinted at a conspiracy while suggesting the arrest was linked to a controversy surrounding a hookah bar.
It’s been a somewhat tumultuous offseason for the Kansas City Chiefs, a team that’s begun to emerge as the NFL equivalent of the Georgia Bulldogs thanks to how many players have been unable to stay out of trouble in recent months.
No one has attracted more attention for all of the wrong reasons than Rashee Rice, who is still waiting to learn his fate after being involved in a car crash he caused in Dallas in March. However, offensive tackles Wanya Morris and Chukwuebuka Godrick also found themselves in hot water after being arrested for possession of marijuana midway through May.
Now, Isaiah Buggs—the defensive lineman who previously played for the Lions before signing a futures contract with the Chiefs in February—has entered the chat, as ESPN reports the 27-year-old who played at Alabama in college has been hit with two misdemeanor animal abuse charges by police in Tuscaloosa.
Buggs is accused of leaving a pit bull and a Rottweiler mix on the back porch of a home he was renting where they were found “surrounded in feces with no access to food or water.” Police believe the animals were left unattended for up to 10 days, and the pit bull was ultimately euthanized due to the condition it was in when the dogs were found after someone phoned in a tip.
Trey Robinson, Buggs’ agent, disputed the charges in a statement where he claimed the dogs didn’t belong to the DL and that he had no knowledge they were being kept at the house he’d supposedly vacated around two weeks before they were discovered.
He also suggested the charges are linked to an ongoing effort to force Buggs to shutter a hookah lounge that has apparently drawn the ire of local officials, saying:
“We believe the City of Tuscaloosa’s decision to file the charges today is part of a concerted effort by the City of Tuscaloosa and its Police Department to besmirch Mr. Buggs’ name and reputation as part of an ongoing subversive campaign to force the close of his local business, Kings Hookah Lounge.”
He said Buggs had previously been arrested at the lounge on two occasions and asserted the city has been using the charges as leverage “by offering to drop and not pursue them in exchange for his voluntary surrender of his business license.”
Robinson said that argument will be used as a central part of Buggs’ defense when the case is heard in court, so we’ll have to wait and see how things play out.