Ex-Lobo hoopster Bragg accepts plea agreement

He had been arrested for drunken driving in Jan.

Former Lobo Carlton Bragg accepted a plea agreement from state prosecutors on Monday for a January drunken driving arrest that derailed his senior season and brought an end to his UNM men’s basketball career.

The 24-year-old former high school McDonald’s All-American out of Ohio turned Kansas Jayhawk and eventual Lobo pleaded guilty on Monday in Metro Court to one misdemeanor charge of Driving While Intoxicated stemming from his arrest early in the morning of Jan. 12.

The plea agreement drops a charge of possession of less than once ounce of marijuana and dropped the DWI charge from a felony aggravated DWI charge for his refusal to take a breathalyzer to a misdemeanor that will result in one year of probation, $330 in fines and 24 hours of community service.

His fines, according to court records, are due by Sept. 28 and his community service must be completed by Aug. 10.

Bragg, who earned a degree from UNM this past semester, completing his coursework even after being dismissed from the team, was arrested in the early morning of Jan. 12, just hours after playing what would be his final college basketball game, scoring 11 points, grabbing seven rebounds and blocking three shots in a home win over Air Force.

He and his girlfriend later were in a car that Bragg drove through a DWI sobriety check point near Broadway and Coal at 1:21 a.m. An Albuquerque Police Department report indicated Bragg admitted he had two glasses of wine between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. A review of police lapel video by the Journal showed Bragg going through field sobriety tests, which he said he felt he passed and said he was told by the officer conducting the tests he passed. After doing so, however, Bragg became angry when the officer asked him to submit to a breathalyzer anyway. Bragg refused, leading to his arrest.

The Jan. 12 criminal complaint filed in Metro Court charged Bragg, who was listed as living in Tempe, Ariz., with aggravated driving while intoxicated for refusing a breathalyzer test and also with possession of marijuana under (one ounce), which police say they found after his arrest in his clothing when he was booked into jail.

Since leaving Albuquerque in the spring, Bragg has been training for a professional basketball career.