Crime and Courts

Former NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf sent to Montana State Prison

Posted: Jan 17, 2013 12:57 PM by MTN News

DEER LODGE - Former NFL quarterback and Great Falls football star Ryan Leaf has been transferred from a substance-abuse treatment center in Lewistown to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

Leaf was sentenced in June to five years to the Montana Department of Corrections for drug and burglary charges in Cascade County. He had been residing in the Nexus Treatment Center in Lewistown since shortly after he was sentenced.

Dawn Handa, regional probation and parole administrator in Great Falls, said on Thursday that Leaf has been "terminated" from the treatment program in Lewistown and has been transferred to the state prison after he was found guilty of "behavior that violated conditions of his drug treatment placement," including threatening a program staff member.

Leaf was arrested in Great Falls on April 1, 2012, and charged with one count of burglary, one count of theft, two counts of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and booked on probation violation. That arrest came just two days after Leaf was arrested on similar charges.

In June, Leaf was sentenced to seven years with the Montana Department of Corrections, with two of those years suspended.

During the sentencing, Leaf's attorney asked that substance abuse treatment be included in the sentence, stating, "I believe Ryan is ready to face his addiction head-on."