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Police to investigate nonarrest of ex-Gator Loucheiz Purifoy

 
Published April 20, 2014

GAINESVILLE — As former Florida Gators cornerback Loucheiz Purifoy prepares for next month's NFL draft, legal troubles he incurred last month are at the forefront of a police investigation.

The Gainesville Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the suppression of an arrest warrant against Purifoy after he was accused of drug possession, the Gainesville Sun reported Saturday.

According to police reports, Purifoy was discovered with marijuana and synthetic drug bath salts by Alachua County Sheriff's officers on March 18. But after an oral agreement to cooperate with the agency's city and county drug task force, he was not arrested, the reports said.

But in the ensuing weeks, police were not able to contact Purifoy and he did not fulfill his obligation as an informant, the reports said, which led the Alachua County Sheriff's Office to issue an arrest warrant for him last week.

After Purifoy's attorney filed a motion to cancel the arrest warrant on the condition he would be available to law enforcement if it requested, the motion to cancel was granted, prompting Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell to ask for the internal investigation.

"The action to quash the warrant is highly unusual, and as a result, I have numerous questions as to the propriety of how this occurred," Darnell wrote in a letter Friday to Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones, adding her deputies were not aware the warrant had been invalidated.

Purifoy started seven games in 2013, registering 24 tackles, including two sacks and an interception. He announced in December he would not return for his senior season.

In February 2013, Purifoy was arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana in a car that included multiple occupants. The charge was dropped by the State Attorney's Office after it said it couldn't prove whom the drugs belonged to.

In addition, Purifoy was suspended for the first game of 2013 for an undisclosed violation of team rules.

Antonya English can be reached at english@tampabay.com.