Pepitone Bailed Out of Brooklyn Jail on $15,000 Bond

Former New York Yankee baseball star Joe Pepitone, arrested on drug and weapon possession charges, was released from jail Wednesday on $15,000 bond.

The 44-year-old Pepitone was arrested Monday night in Brooklyn, N.Y., with two other men on charges of possession of $70,000 worth of cocaine and heroin, methaqualone and a loaded handgun.

All three men were arraigned Tuesday night in Brooklyn Criminal Court, where an innocent plea was entered for them by lawyers.

If convicted, they would face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Pepitone’s lawyer, Stephen Flamhaft, said his client maintains that he did not know the drugs and gun were in the car.

Former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier, 41, and one-time Canadian champion Robert Cleroux, 47, signed a contract in Montreal for a fight the Quebec Sports Safety Board says is illegal.

Promoter Regis Levesque, who has tried for three years to cajole Frazier out of retirement, has promised each fighter $160,000 to meet June 23 in suburban Laval, headlining a six-bout card. The Quebec Professional Boxing Federation has agreed to sanction the bout, provided the former boxers pass a thorough medical examination.

But Gilles Neron, who heads the provincial sports safety board, said the fight would only be legal “in Montreal or Quebec City, and I don’t think these athletic commissions would give permission for such a fight.”

Former professional boxing title-holder Bruce Curry, found innocent by reason of insanity on charges that he shot at his trainer, is well enough to be released from a Nevada mental hospital, according to a board of psychiatrists.

Lawyers for Curry, the former World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion, will appear in court next week to ask a judge to formally order Curry’s release from the mental facility on the basis of the panel’s ruling.

The 28-year-old Curry was confined last September on charges stemming from the shooting in February, 1984. He was accused of firing a .357-caliber revolver at Jesse Reid, then his trainer, through a hole in the door of a Gym. Curry blamed Reid for losing his title the previous weekend to Billy Costello in a bout in Beaumont, Tex.

Curry’s attorney, Joseph Houston, said the fighter wants to return to the ring once he is released.

Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg sped to his sixth World Cup men’s slalom victory in Park City, Utah, beating his nearest competitor by 2.14 seconds in the two-run event to clinch the 1985 overall title.

Girardelli, 21, who was runner-up in the first run, attacked the steep, icy course to win the second time around, finishing with a total time of one minute 47.24 seconds.

A woman who was buried for 20 minutes in an avalanche at a Park City, Utah, ski resort died at a Salt Lake City hospital Wednesday after suffering cardiac arrest.

Marilyn Harrell, 36, Kingston, N.C., had been in extremely critical condition earlier and was suffering from hypothermia, according to John Dwan, spokesman for the University of Utah Health Sciences Center.

The Tuesday avalanche, believed caused by skiers in a restricted area, came on a trail used by skiers watching the women’s slalom of the World Cup competition.

Names in the News

Gene Iba, a nephew of former Oklahoma State basketball Coach Hank Iba, was named head basketball coach at Baylor, replacing Jim Haller, who resigned under pressure last month. The Bears’ new coach left a job at Houston Baptist to accept a four-year contract.

The Florida Supreme Court agreed to review the cocaine conviction of former Miami Dolphins running back Eugene (Mercury) Morris later this year. Written briefs are due April 8, and the court scheduled oral arguments arem set for Sept. 11 at Tallahassee, Fla. Morris is serving a 20-year sentence following his 1982 conviction for conspiracy to sell cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and possession of the drug.

For the second year in a row, Cheryl Miller of USC has been chosen as Outstanding Player and Jody Conradt of Texas as Coach of the Year in a poll of women’s college basketball coaches.