A community news and forum, Stu News Laguna reported Friday that UFC flyweight Ian McCall was arrested last Tuesday on some strange, if relatively benign, charges including “possession of narcotic paraphernalia, possession of prescription meds without a valid prescription, and driving on a suspended license,” after undercover DEA agents spotted him. According to a later report from MMA Weekly, however, McCall’s manager Jason House says that McCall’s arrest happened a bit differently and with different charges.
“According to House, McCall was driving home on Tuesday when an unmarked police car recognized his vehicle from past occurrences and pulled him over. The police ran McCall’s plates and they found an outstanding warrant in his name,” MMA Weekly reported.
“The warrant stemmed from a ticket issued in June for McCall driving under a suspended license. McCall apparently paid the fines, but did not make a scheduled court appearance due to a miscommunication and a warrant was issued.”
Well, that sounds a bit better, we suppose. After all, McCall has spoken publicly about his past struggles with drug abuse and while drug paraphernalia and excessive prescriptions are just downright American, they might not be the best thing for someone in recovery to have laying around.
The bad news for McCall is that he now has to spend a month in jail because he was on parole from past charges and a warrant was out in his name. His release date is scheduled for September 13th. His manager maintains that McCall has only been charged with driving under a suspended license.
McCall last fought Demetrius Johnson and lost a decision in the UFC flyweight tournament in June. He had to pull out of a fight on the UFC on Fox 4 card August 4th because of a knee injury.
UPDATE, August 18, 2012, 3:15 ET: McCall’s criminal attorney, George Vargas, released a statement to MMA Weekly detailing the incident.
In 2008, Ian was arrested for possession of prescription drugs without a
prescription and paraphernalia. The paraphernalia was needles that he used to
take the fluid out of his ears. Part of Ian’s punishment for that case was that
he was to do 20 days of Cal Trans (physical labor).
The following year, Ian was having more troubles and he entered and
completed a six-month residential drug treatment program at Nancy Clark’s The
Recovery Center in Orange County. Ian completely turned his life around, began
training hard and became the man he is today.
On June 14 of this year, Ian was pulled over for a traffic stop. He was
given a ticket for PC14601 (driving on a suspended license). Ian’s license had
been suspended for unpaid traffic and parking tickets.
The very next day, on June 15, Ian went to the Harbor Justice Center with
his agent, and paid over $2,600 in fines. He mistakenly thought that the ticket
from the previous day had been handled. A few weeks later, when the court date
for that case came, Ian did not show and a warrant was issued for his
arrest.
On Aug. 14, once again, Ian was stopped while driving home from the gym.
At that time he was arrested for the two warrants: one for not completing the
20 days of Cal Trans work for the 2008 case, and the other for not showing up to
court on the driving on a suspended license ticket that he had thought that he
had handled.