THE SIDELINES : Mack Gets 6 Months on Drug Charge

Browns running back Kevin Mack was sentenced to six months in prison today after pleading guilty to using cocaine, said Cuyahoga County Asst. Prosecutor Frank Gasper.

Mack, 26, was arrested June 28 in a car parked on a Cleveland street. Police said they found 11 packets of cocaine valued at $50 each inside the car.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard McMonagle sentenced Mack to six months in the Mansfield Reformatory, a facility for first-time offenders under 30, Gasper said. Mack will be sent to the reformatory as soon as he is processed through the County Jail and will have to spend a minimum of 30 days in jail before he can apply for probation, Gasper said.

Mack had also been charged with cocaine trafficking, possession of criminal tools and using a motor vehicle for drug abuse, but those charges were dropped as part of Mack’s guilty plea to drug use, Gasper said.

After his arrest, Mack spent a month in the Cleveland Clinic, undergoing an extensive drug evaluation, and has not yet played for the Browns this season.