THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOSTON — Nick Kaczur of Brantford, Ont., a starting offensive lineman with the NFL’s New England Patriots, worked as an informant for U.S. federal drug agents after being arrested in New York on a charge he was carrying a small amount of oxycodone but had no prescription for the powerful painkiller.
Wearing a wire, Kaczur, 28, helped agents build a case against his alleged supplier, Daniel Ekasala, who pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to three counts of possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute.
Ekasala’s lawyer, Bernard Grossberg, confirmed the six-foot-four, 315-pound Kaczur was the unidentified co-operating witness described in court documents.
Kaczur was unavailable for comment Wednesday. He denied to The Boston Globe that he participated in the investigation.
"I don’t know what you’re talking about, bro," he said.
New England selected Kaczur in the third round, 100th overall, in the 2005 NFL draft. He cracked the Patriots’ starting lineup as a rookie, starting 11 of the club’s final 13 games at left tackle.
Last year, Kaczur set a career high by starting 15 games at right tackle for the Patriots, and also started in the club’s 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. The defeat halted New England’s quest to become just the second team in NFL history to post an undefeated season.
Kaczur enjoyed a brilliant college career at Toledo, becoming the first player in school history to be a four-time All-Mid American Conference player. He started 51 career games at Toledo.
According to an affidavit, filed in court by a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, the co-operating witness wore a recording device during three drug buys in May. In each of the deals, the witness bought 100 OxyContin pills from Ekasala for US$3,900 in cash, agent Todd Prough said.
Ekasala, 34, was arrested May 13 after meeting the witness in the parking lot of a Shaw’s supermarket in Sharon and selling him 100 pills, according to the affidavit. Ekasala was indicted Tuesday and remains free on an unsecured bond of $10,000.
Grossberg said Kaczur told the DEA he began purchasing OxyContin in November, getting 100 pills every few days. But the lawyer said he believes Kaczur inflated the quantity he bought to "increase his importance or usability to the DEA."
Grossberg said Ekasala, an unemployed construction worker and father of two-year-old twins, was sympathetic to Kaczur and somewhat in awe of him because of his status as a Patriots player.
"As anybody who meets a professional athlete, someone such as Mr. Kaczur, I think he became somewhat enamoured by his content with him, and was enticed to do certain things," Grossberg said.
Grossberg said Ekasala repeatedly suggested to Kaczur in text messages that he should not be using Oxycontin.
"(His) opinion is that Kaczur took them originally for pain and because they are so highly addictive, he became addicted to them and dependent on them," Grossberg said.
.Grossberg also questioned whether authorities were giving special treatment to Kaczur.
"It’s a concern, that the case not be handled any differently than any other case in which a defendant is charged with these offences," he said. "I’d be interested to see what the deal is that Kaczur has gotten with the government."
Kaczur was pulled over by state police in Whitestown, N.Y., on April 27, for driving 76 miles an hour in a 65 m.p.h. zone. He was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, a misdemeanour, said Sgt. Kern Swoboda, a spokesman for the state police.
State police said Kaczur was issued a summons to appear in court May 12, but did not know the current status of his case.
Stacey James, a spokesman for the Patriots, would not comment on Kaczur and referred questions to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
"We have no involvement in this," James said.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan declined to comment.
Kaczur’s agent, Vance Malinovic, did not return multiple messages left by The Associated Press.
