Ex-NFL player faces drugs, guns charges
Edgewater man arrested, being held without bail
A former NFL player from Edgewater faces drugs and weapons charges after police said they found marijuana, oxycodone and various firearms at a Crofton residence Tuesday.
Anne Arundel police said Jacob David Bender, 33, was arrested after police investigated reports of drug transactions taking place at a residence on the 2500 block of Vineyard Lane.
The department said it had begun receiving tips of possible drug sales at the residence in early November and obtained a search warrant to investigate the home.
Police searched the Crofton residence at 4:06 p.m. Tuesday, the department said, and found about 30 grams of marijuana, about 41 grams of marijuana wax, one pill of the
opioid painkiller oxycodone, about 2 grams of crushed pills, 2 pills of buprenophine and 204 pills of the ant-anxiety medicine Alprazolam, more commonly known by its trade name Xanax.
In addition, police said they found a .45 caliber handgun with 14 rounds, a Remington 870 Express shotgun, a Model 311 Stevens shotgun, 24 12-gauge shotgun rounds, a box of .22 caliber ammunition and $10,093 in cash.
Police say they arrested Bender following the search and he faces various drug possession and distribution charges as well as weapons-related offenses.
Bender is a former offensive lineman and South River High School graduate who bounced around various NFL teams’ practice squads after being drafted by the New York Jets in the sixth round in 2007 with a $285,000 contract.
In past interviews with The Capital after Bender fell out professional football in 2014, Bender admitted to having more than a half-dozen run-ins with the law and admitted to officers to using heroin.
On May 5, 2013, Bender received probation before judgement on drug possession charges after police said they found him in a vehicle with seven oxycodone pills and three hypodermic needles.
Two weeks before in 2013, his close friend, John Donnell Ray, 32, of Calvert County, was found shot to death. Bender said he and Ray were partying earlier and, when Bender passed out, Ray went to set up a drug deal and was shot to death when he left without Bender.
Bender is currently being held without bond following a bail review Thursday, according to court records.
No attorney is listed as representing Bender.