3 Men Plead Not Guilty in Case Involving Rams Player

Three men implicated in a drug ring that allegedly involved Los Angeles Rams cornerback Darryl Henley pleaded not guilty Monday to conspiring to extort at least $100,000 from the football player.

Entering not guilty pleas were Rafael (Ralph) Bustamante, 28, of Rancho Cucamonga; James Saenz, 31, of Covina, and Alejandro Cuevas, 30, of West Covina. U.S. Magistrate Ronald Rose set trial for Dec. 7.

The three men were arrested after a federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a four-count indictment last week. A fourth man, Moises Heredia, 18, who is Bustamante’s half-brother, also was arrested, but charges against him were later dropped.

Bustamante has said that Henley owed him $350,000 in connection with a drug deal.

Henley has not been charged with any wrongdoing. Federal agents have said in court papers that Henley was a key player in a drug distribution ring.

An affidavit filed by the Drug Enforcement Administration indicates that Bustamante financed a 12-kilogram cocaine deal that went sour when authorities intercepted a courier, reportedly recruited by Henley, at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport and the drugs were seized.

Henley was the source of the cocaine that was being carried in a suitcase by then-Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho, court documents state.

The indictment charges that Bustamante and Cuevas confronted Henley at gunpoint on Sept. 8 at Rams Park, the team’s training facility in Anaheim, and demanded that he pay Bustamante what he owed him. Bustamante reportedly jumped over a security fence and took Henley’s 1992 Lexus. Bustamante and Cuevas had set a deadline of Sept. 25 for the money to be delivered or else Henley would be killed, the indictment states.

A week later, Bustamante and Cuevas appeared at Henley’s father’s house and demanded that the money be repaid, according to the indictment.

Fearing for his family’s safety, Henley cooperated with authorities, who arrested the four men by luring several of them to a rendezvous with promises of a payment on the claimed $350,000 debt.