Ex-Rockets star Steve Francis out on bond, but must return to FL to face burglary charge
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- He may be in trouble with the law but former NBA All-Star and Houston Rocket Steve Francis did not appear in court today. Instead, his lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did all the talking.
There are three charges against the former NBA all-star, two of them are in Harris County after Francis was stopped for driving under the influence then allegedly said some inappropriate things to the officers involved in that process.
But after his arrest locally, it was found that there is an open warrant for Francis' arrest for burglary charges out of Florida.
Today Francis' attorney was dealing with that burglary charge.
Francis did not appear before the judge, but his attorney did get the former Rockets player out on bond to deal with that out of state charge.
As for the allegation that Francis made what some say are threatening comments to police, here is what his attorney said about that: "People sometimes, when they are under arrest, they will say some things that they probably shouldn't say, but I don't know if he said anything here or whatever, but I know he, there was never any struggle, he never hit a police officer, there was nothing physically involved, whether they had some words at the scene apparently that is what the charge is, but I don't know."
Francis actually has three charges, the DWI, the retaliation charge and the burglary charge out of Florida.
He is posting bond for all three, then will head to Florida to deal with the case there before coming back to Harris County to face the charges against him here. He has 30 days to surrender to Florida police.
According to the Florida police report obtained by 13 Eyewitness News, Francis broke into a woman's car not far from Sarasota, Florida.
The report says Francis stole, "a make-up pouch, a wallet, a gold wedding ring, a gold diamond band, earrings, press credentials and $100 in cash."
The report says the items totalled more than $7,200.
In a bizarre twist, he later showed up at the police station to turn himself in. Officers say Francis arrived to the police station with a bag of the stolen items. He said he stole them and then "...threw the bag on the ground and stated, 'I just robbed somebody, take me to jail. I'm turning myself in'."
