Ex-Dorsey Coach Awaits Sentencing

Derrel Thomas, the former Los Angeles Dodger and Dorsey High School baseball coach, is scheduled to be sentenced May 3 after pleading no contest to conspiring to purchase and sell 22 pounds of cocaine last year.

Thomas, 43, testified against an alleged accomplice, former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Rickey Ross, 45, whose case was declared a mistrial March 11.

Thomas pleaded no contest in December to one count of conspiracy to purchase narcotics for the purpose of resale. In exchange for testifying against Ross, he will face no more than three years in prison. Ross could be charged with no more than 11 years in prison.

Ross and Thomas were arrested in April, 1992, in a McDonald’s parking lot near Los Angeles International Airport after arriving with an informant and $151,000 in the trunk of Ross’ rented Cadillac.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane Winston contends that Ross and Thomas were trying to buy 22 pounds of cocaine from undercover agents who were running a sting operation.

Ross testified that he thought the money might be used for money laundering, and not drugs.

Ross’ first trial ended with the jury deadlocked 9-to-3 in favor of acquittal on three counts of conspiracy to purchase cocaine for resale.

Winston is expected to file for a retrial of Ross, but has not made an announcement in court, according to the district attorney’s office.

After graduating from Dorsey, Thomas was the first baseball player taken in the 1969 winter draft. He played 15 years in the major leagues, including five seasons with the Dodgers. He became coach of the Dorsey baseball team in 1992.