Former U.S. figure skating champion Nicole Bobek has been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in Hudson County, New Jersey.
Bobek, 31, won the women’s U.S. figure skating title in 1995. She was arrested last week in Florida as part of a raid on a major drug ring.
She was brought to New Jersey to appear in Central Judicial Processing Court via videolink Monday from the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, N.Y.
According to Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio, Nicole Bobek, who has homes in N.Y. and Florida, was involved in a northern New Jersey drug ring.
“She played a significant role in this operation,” DeFazio told reporters.
Odds are Nicole Bobek isn’t smiling like this in her jail cell.
DeFazio added that the crimes Nicole Bobek is accused of took place in New York and that 20 other people were arrested in connection to the drug ring.
“She was actively involved in the upper echelon of this ring,” he added.
Bobek’s attorney, Sam DeLuca, entered a not guilty plea on behalf of the former figure skater, who is being held on $200,000 bail.
She faces up to 10 years in jail if she is convicted.
This story comes on the heels of another in which sports and criminal activity collide: Steve McNair and girlfriend Sahel Kazemi were found dead July 4.
Nicole Bobek’s arriagnment photo. Not technically a mug shot, but just as classic.