Prosecutors won’t charge Odom after Nevada brothel weekend
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lamar Odom has been transferred from a Los Angeles hospital to a private facility. But there’s no word on his condition, three months after he was found unconscious and in critical condition at a Nevada brothel. Family spokeswoman Alvina Alston says Friday, Jan. 8, 2016 that Odom was released from the hospital earlier in the week.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A sign advertises the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nev., where former NBA basketball player Lamar Odom was found unconscious the day before, after four days at the brothel.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richard Hunter, media director for Dennis Hof, who owns the Love Ranch, walks in the room at the Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nev., where former NBA basketball player Lamar Odom was found unconscious the day before after four days at the brothel.
LAS VEGAS >> Lamar Odom won’t be charged with any drug counts after the former NBA star was found unconscious last year at a Nevada brothel with cocaine in his system, prosecutors said Monday.
Evidence in the case did not prove that Odom used the drug during his three days in Nye County, so he could not be charged with unlawful use of cocaine or being under the influence of a controlled substance — the felony count recommended by the sheriff’s office, District Attorney Angela Bello said.
Odom wasn’t in possession of any cocaine and the cocaine discovered in his system had already metabolized — making it difficult to determine the time he had used it — when he was hospitalized on Oct. 13 in extremely critical condition in Las Vegas, Bello said.
It’s “unlikely it could (be) established beyond a reasonable doubt he actually ingested, or was impaired by, the drug during the time he was within the jurisdiction of Nye County,” she said in a statement.
Investigators have not directly contacted Odom but worked with his attorney, Blair Berk, a prominent celebrity lawyer in California who declined to comment on the decision by prosecutors.
Bello said no other recommended charges have been sent to her office involving the situation.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Odom’s blood was tested the same night he was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. The sheriff’s office later recommended the felony count.
Odom’s estranged wife, Khloe Kardashian, and members of her famous reality television family were in Las Vegas soon after Odom was hospitalized. He was later transferred to a Los Angeles hospital.
The Odom family said Friday he had left the Los Angeles hospital for a private facility.
Family spokeswoman Alvina Alston declined to comment on the decision by Bello or on Odom’s condition. She previously termed his recovery as “miraculous and continued improvement.”
Odom spent most of his 14-year NBA career in Los Angeles with the Lakers and Clippers. He married Kardashian, appeared in her family’s “Keeping Up with The Kardashians” show and then starred in the “Khloe and Lamar” spinoff.
They split up amid rumors of cheating.
Brothel owner Dennis Hof said Odom spent $75,000 on two women who accompanied him in a VIP suite at Love Ranch brothel in Crystal, Nevada, where he was found unconscious.
