Kenny Kelly arrested on marijuana charges

Former Tampa Catholic record-setting quarterback Kenny Kelly was arrested Wednesday morning on three felony drug counts.

Kelly, currently the quarterbacks coach at Plant City, was arrested for possession of marijuana of more than 20 grams, purchase and solicitation to deliver marijuana, according to police reports. All three charges are third-degree felonies.

According to the charge report, Kelly, 29, turned himself at the Plant City Police Department at 8:52 Wednesday morning after a warrant was issued for his arrest. He is still being held at Orient Road Jail on $45,000 bond.

A standout in both football and baseball, Kelly left Tampa Catholic as Hillsborough County’s all-time leader in passing yards (7,486) and touchdown passes (77). His yardage mark has since been passed by former Jefferson standout and current South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia and the touchdown record eclisped by former Robinson quarterback Marcello Trigg, who is currently at Bucknell.

Kelly went to the University of Miami to play quarterback there, but ended up pursuing baseball as a second-round draft pick of the Devil Rays. He has played professional baseball for 11 years -- parts of six of them at the Triple-A level -- including 26 major league at bats. He last reached in majors in 2005 with the Nationals. Last season, he played for the White Sox's Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte. He recently returned to coach quarterbacks in his hometown of Plant City. 

“I’m stunned,” said first-year Plant City coach Jason Strunk. “Other than that I don’t know anything else. There’s really nothing else I can add.”

-- EDUARDO A. ENCINA

Comments

[Cheech & Chong]

They don't make me feel good, they make me feel grrrrrrrrrrrreat. An weed doesn't get you in trouble. You being a dumb a*s gets you in trouble. I know many people that are productive in life and when they get home from work, they like to smoke a joint. Theirs nothing wrong with that. They still get up and go to work everyday. So 12:38AM, shut your mouth cause you don't have a clue on what your talking about. It's a completely different story with "HARD" drugs. Weed is not a hard drug.

[Cheech & Chong]

They don't make me feel good, they make me feel grrrrrrrrrrrreat. An weed doesn't get you in trouble. You being a dumb a*s gets you in trouble. I know many people that are productive in life and when they get home from work, they like to smoke a joint. Theirs nothing wrong with that. They still get up and go to work everyday. So 12:38AM, shut your mouth cause you don't have a clue on what your talking about. It's a completely different story with "HARD" drugs. Weed is not a hard drug.

[Cheech & Chong]

They don't make me feel good, they make me feel grrrrrrrrrrrreat. An weed doesn't get you in trouble. You being a dumb a*s gets you in trouble. I know many people that are productive in life and when they get home from work, they like to smoke a joint. Theirs nothing wrong with that. They still get up and go to work everyday. So 12:38AM, shut your mouth cause you don't have a clue on what your talking about. It's a completely different story with "HARD" drugs. Weed is not a hard drug.

RIGHT NOW....

If I can get through to ONE person who is involved now, or one person who is thinking about it...then my WORD has been passed.

Drugs Don't Help You, They Hurt You!

They Destroy You! They get you in Trouble.

Tell me one thing good about them?

I don't want to hear they make me feel good either.

HOW ABOUT HELPING ANOTHER PERSON?

HELP ANOTHER PERSON STOP!

THAT SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER THAN GOOD!

Hey 10:13pm, when your next "sermon"?
OH SH*T, THE CHERRY FELL OU........

They call it DOPE because it's DOPES that use it or are around it!

JUST SAY "NO", it's SIMPLE!

NO! ENOUGH SAID!

You can still be cool and not have anything to do with DRUGS.

Problem is, the folks that we want to target to get off it, aren't reading these posts.

It's like talking to the freakin WALL or into the AIR.

[Chris]

An earlier blog hit the nail on the "pot" head. Maybe this is why som much talent went "up in smoke". I personally saw Kenny dominate at the high school level. Others that I have seen dominate, such as Chris Davis from SPC were the same way. What a shame. I'd hate to see Kenny go the way of Hambrick.

Bill Jackson-
Another political idiot. We already have one in office.

As we stand today, are drugs illegal?

Enough questions...Kelly is the moron here.

[Bill Jackson]

Why does the government have the right to restrict what I do with my body if I'm not harming others or imposing my usage on them?

As far as legalizing all drugs, I'm quite open to it. If all drugs were legal, would I do them? Absolutely not, but the War on Drugs is by far the biggest waste of money in the history of this country and is the single biggest source of crime in the US.

Why legalize them all? What's the difference between meth and ridilin? A single chemical bond and the fact that drug companies manufacture and sell it to your kids for ADHD.

So what's wrong with a guy getting high? The same kids he's coaching are all hopped up on speed so they can concentrate all day long.

12:47-why do you say 10:50 is an idiot for making a logical conclusion. BJ had been using this as a political forum, which it is not-it is about a coach who got fired-so 10:50 used logic. The logic? Why stop at marijuana? If you are going to legalize 1 drug, why not legalize others? That was the point. It's called reasoning

No...actually, 12:47, you and Bill Jackson sound like the morons trying to defend someone who was found to have enough weed to be a felony, and then is suspected of having intent to distribute...defending that sounds like a moron!

10:50AM, your actually trying to compare pot to cocaine, heroin, MDMA, or meth? You are truly an idiot. I'm not saying it wasn't wrong for Kenny to get caught but come on with the "why stop at pot,let's legalize all drugs" statement. You sound like a moron saying that.

HEY BILL JACKSON --Why stop at legalizing pot, let's legalize all drugs. It's just drugs. Get real. For those who say buying beer and alcohol is legal, you're right, but drink and drive, then it's a different story. Just because some of you may think it's harmless, think of all the innocent people who have lost their lives because of someone ingesting a legal substance, but then broke the law by getting behind the wheel of a car.

Mr. Kelly is a role model and should have enough sense to think before he acts. Why should his players make good choices, when their coach does not. And he's old enough to know better. SHAME ON HIM!

So no mari-j dealers are non-violent? It never ceases to amaze the opinions of a crazy public.

Bill Jackson,
Put the pipe down-find another forum for the legalization of pot. This article is about a "coach" mentoring to young men. What he did was WRONG. Smoking pot like anything else is a personal choice. When you are leading young people, you should be of a higher moral code.
A teacher with morals

[Bill Jackson]

In response to Barack, taxation (though indirect in some cases) is easily possible.

Today, plenty of people buy products to make alcohol / home brews. All pay sales taxes on these when they purchase them. The same goes for canibus. The industry is huge in Canada for fertilizers, lighting and any other product that produces great plants. The same would occur in the US.

As far as direct tax revenues, I for one and many other people who use canibus recreationally would much rather buy from a store than a friend of a friend, but we all know that's not possible today unless you live in CA or another medical marijuana state. Here's some food for thought about the potential revenues from a tax on canibus:

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxes_marijuana/table.html

T...
Yes we know it is ILLEGAL today, but if it were decriminalized I doubt Mr. Kelly would have found himself in this situation. And as far as his coaching ability goes, was there any complaint about his performance before this? Was he molesting children or committing a violent crime? Nope. Just out to smoke up and make a buck off a substance that doesn't damage the liver and has no hangover. I had many a coach in HS who were heavy drinkers, but that didn't affect their ability to teach or train me.

So why should this change him? I know because it's ILLEGAL! I get it..but really I don't. It makes economic, judicial and all around good plain sense. We've spent 30+ years and nearly a trillion dollars and what do we have to show for it? Oh...just a million non-violent offenders locked in jail costing all of us an average of $50K / yr to incarcerate while child molesters get out in a couple years. And we have a border over run by drug cartels who make millions off a product we could easily grow, tax and sell in the US. It all makes complete sense to me now.

[T]

Seems some people are using this as a political forum......bottom line, it IS illegal to even possess marajuana, and it is against school policy to employ someone arrested for that (actually, I beleive DUI's are on the fire/suspend list if you check). Weather you agree or not is not the question. It's against the law and school policy.

Did anyone wonder if this is why such a talented athlete ever made it in the majors? He was highly touted and just never got past AAA. Hmmmmm

Well said Bill Jackson.....well said.

[Barack "I am a terrorist" HUSSEIN Obama]

Bill Jackson,
The War on Drugs is a scam by the US government to perpetuate the Billion dollar justice department industry.
The Govt. spends billions on lawyers, prisons, guards, judges,DEA, ATF, etc.
It is and will always be a revenue and job creater for the country, as is the "War on Terror"
The only reason it is not lagalized is because the govt. cannot find a way to tax it and get their share.

[recreational user 4 30yrs]

alcohol is a crutch for those that can't handle reality...reality is a crutch for those that can't' handle marijuana...

BILL JACKSON FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!

[Bill Jackson]

Street Thug....give me a break. Pot is less dangerous than drinking and yet it costs the American Taxpayer more than $10 billion per year in legal, court and enforcement costs. Net Revenue to the US Government is ZERO folks.

Legalize it and get it over with. Legalization would create $6 to 9 billion dollars a year in tax revenue and eliminate billions in government spending for the War on Drugs. It would create jobs and provide a legal living for many who currently grow the crop illegally. Take the nearly $20 billion in net gains and create more drug treatment programs, fund education and use the money to fight real violent crime.

Why continue funding drug cartels in Mexico? Legalization would eliminate the large margins these cartels make on canibus because a steady US supply would meet demand. It's the simple law of supply and demand from ECON 101. Supply drives down prices period. Crime decreases as gangs no longer can sell it profitably. Do you see gangs selling liquor out of warehouses anymore? Nope. Because it's legal. And just because it's legal doesn't mean that everyone will be getting high.

Study after study has shown that countries where canibus is legal have 25-50% lower levels of consumption. When it's everywhere, it's really not that mysterious to people anymore. Let's have a sensible debate about this and start considering the facts and not the garbage Washington pumps out to make the War on Drugs look like a success.

If you think the war in Iraq is a failure, look at the War on Drugs. A war that has lasted decades, has no net gains to show for itself and is basically a big Washington sinkhole eating our tax dollars.

This is my care meter.
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He was not just smoking dope he was also caught making plans to sell dope to an undercover cop.

11:23- I totally DISAGREE with you. We need coaches to ASSIST with the maturity and development of our youth. We can not change near or should I say majority of parenting failure that has happened in our great country, but our coaches and teachers are intrumental in upholding the morals and teaching values to these athletes. Coaches are such a valuable tool to development of young men and women. With that said, parents much teach them, but how many coaches have changed peoples lives for the good. How about Coach Carter? Values, self-discipline, morals, accountability, responsibility. Those are the things coaches should be teaching, along with bettering them as an athlete.

[Lindy]

I still think that Plant City lost out on some very talented Coaches who had applied for the Head position, one of who that I know has morals and would have brought alot of Character along with HIS own coaching staff. How does a coach fron Penn. get the head job any way? Oh, that's right, he had connections, with his friend- Kenny.

[Lindy]

Plant City can be proud, as I recall the Courier recently had an article about how the "Prodical Son" had returned to Plant City, boy do we have standards or what?

This is post 7:49 to 9:10. I am a teacher/coach and I am a female, not male. I do not sign my name because I am a professional, unlike Kelly, and I appreciate my privacy. Kelly is still a law-breaking street thug. PERIOD!!!

It is, what it is! ILLEGAL!

Now, had this been Mr Kelly jaywalking in Ybor, BFD.

But it's an former Superstar Athlete, now HS Football Coach, in rehab for MLB Baseball.

If he is in fact an accomplice of this, remembering that the FACTS don't always come out in the paper, they report newsworthy information, it's a shame.

But, Marijuana is ILLEGAL! When it isn't I might try it, but until then, it's ILLEGAL.

Last time I checked, purchasing beer and vodka is not illegal...the possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs is a felonious action, which requires jail time.

But its just weed, I know.

And I have done my research. While the social acceptance may or may not be on the rise, it is the accompanying illegal activities that are also associated with weed. Guns, violence, gangs...all ring a bell? What about the illegal drug traffic in and out of the country? Still just weed? Give me a break!!! Get a clue!

7:49

raise your own kids,stop expecting Joe Blow the football coach to raise them

[Tim]

Last time I checked, owning and purchasing illegal drugs for sale is illegal. Would you say "its just weed" if he sold some of it to your son or daughter? Based off of some of the comments, I may not want to hear that answer.

I can see that post 7:49 left his name if he was a coach. You ain't no coach.

[tj]

I worked for the DEVIL Rays when he played there. He was a TURD!!!Doesn't surprise me. Is it any wonder why someone with "Major League" potential doesn't make it. Now the truth comes out,that some have known all along.

[Its jst weed]

It's just weed. When is this country going to realize that it's just weed.

If the guy went to the liquor store and bought 10 cases of beer, 10 half gallons of vodka, no one one say anything.

How messed up is this country.

Now the guy gets blasted by the local news outlets.
Ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!

[The Bull Gator]

Not to be picky, but Kelly was drafted by a team called the Devil Rays. I'm sure if he had been taken by the Expos, they wouldn't say he was a second round pick of the Nationals.

And this is newsworthy. Although something that will probably go away very quickly and not be remembered, this is a story about someone who was one of the most decorated high school athletes the Tampa area has ever seen. He currently lives and works in the area as well and was a member of the local pro baseball team's system. Although some of you may not think this is a big deal, it's still a story and newsworthy. Whether weed is harmless or not, he is a high school coach and a story like this will always make the news whether we like it or not.

I'm sure we could debate whether marijuana is harmless or not and should be legalized all day, but the point is right now possession of it is illegal and he broke the law. I don't believe jaywalking should be illegal either, but if I get ticketed for it, it's my own stupid fault because I know in some places I can't do it.

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???? MUST BE A BUNCH OF POT-HEADS YOURSELF. MARIJUANA IS ILLEGAL. THE COACH IS SUPPOSED TO BE A ROLE MODEL. HE IS SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW A PROFESSIONAL CODE OF ETHICS REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL TEACHERS/COACHES. HE IS AN INSULT TO THE PROFESSION. I AM A TEACHER AND COACH MYSELF- HE IS JUST A STREET THUG! GET REAL PEOPLE!!!!!!

[Elvis]

Look. This should not be sensationalized! Mr. Kelly could be strung out on alcohol and we may not even read about it. But weed, which in reality is harmless, makes this big story. Perception of people must change regarding marijuana. Anyone who believes it should carry the stigma it does, should do some research on the history of how it got to where it is today. Mr. Kelly should continue his daily life with pride and not feel like he has done wrong.

[It has been over 90 games]

Rays not Devil Rays.

[Snoop Dogg]

Yeah not newsworthy

[Jon]

not newsworthy.

[Ricky Williams]

It's just dope people! What????

This shouldn't be news.