IN BRIEF : Chip Banks Faces Sex Charge

Drug possession and sodomy charges against San Diego Chargers linebacker Chip Banks were bound over to Fulton County Superior Court today.

Banks, 29, an Augusta native who now lives in Atlanta, was arrested by Atlanta police Wednesday after a woman told them he held her against her will and sexually assaulted her. Banks was charged with false imprisonment, aggravated sodomy, possession of cocaine and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

Police spokeswoman Myrna May said the charges were bound over to the state court today after Banks appeared for a hearing in Atlanta Municipal Court. He was expected to be released on bond later in the day, she said.

Banks, who did not play football this year because of a contract dispute with the Chargers, was free on bond awaiting trial on other charges when he was arrested again Wednesday.

Police spokesman Keith Williams said the new charges stemmed from an incident that began about 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Investigators with the police sex crimes unit said preliminary reports indicated that the woman left a northwest Atlanta nightclub with Banks at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday and accompanied him to his condominium, but resisted his advances.