Ex-Aztec Murray Is Arrested Again on Drug Charges

Gerald Murray, a former center on the San Diego State basketball team, is in jail again on drug charges.

Murray, who had been free on $10,000 bail while awaiting sentencing in another drug case, was arrested Friday by officers of the San Diego Police Department on suspicion of possession of rock cocaine for sale.

He was being held Tuesday in County Jail in El Cajon on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned this morning in San Diego Municipal Court.

Murray, 23, was arrested in a hotel room in the 1400 block of Seventh Avenue after police received a tip that he was selling rock cocaine from the hotel, Sgt. Dennis Sesma of the narcotics street team said Tuesday.

Sesma said officers found three ounces of what is believed to be rock cocaine in a search of the hotel room. That amount of cocaine would have a street value of approximately $8,500, Sesma said.

Sesma said the arrest was the result of information police received that Murray was continuing to sell drugs after pleading guilty April 13 to one count of selling rock cocaine to an undercover police officer on Nov. 21. Murray is scheduled to be sentenced June 8 by Municipal Judge Lisa Guy-Schall in connection with that case.

“The information we had was that he was dealing in the downtown area actively,” Sesma said.

Sesma said officers Steve McMillan and Pat Shanley went to the hotel to investigate and were in the process of gathering information necessary to obtain a search warrant when Murray arrived at the hotel. Murray, who was told by the officers that he would be detained until a warrant could be obtained, agreed to a search of the room, and the substance believed to be cocaine was found, Sesma said.

Murray was arrested at 5:45 p.m. and was transported to County Jail downtown. He later was transferred to El Cajon.

This is the fourth time Murray, a 6-foot 8-inch, 285-pound native of Detroit, has been arrested on drug charges since Aug. 1. He was suspended from the basketball team after his third arrest on Nov. 24 and did not play for the Aztecs this past season. As a junior in 1986-87, he led the team in rebounding at 7.9 per game and averaged 10.1 points per game.

Murray was charged with six drug offenses after his earlier arrests. Five of those charges were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea. Murray faces a maximum penalty of five years in state prison and a $20,000 fine in that case.