The NFL just suspended one of its own owners. The league announced Friday that San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York is suspended six games and fined $500,000 for violating the personal conduct policy.
It all goes back to August 23, when York was arrested in East Palestine, Ohio, in a prostitution sting run by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force. Police say the 46-year-old answered an undercover ad under the name “Joe,” agreed to pay $160, and drove to the Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community to meet who he thought was a prostitute. Cops pulled over his rental SUV at the trailer park instead.
The bodycam footage is brutal to watch. York, wearing a Yankees T-shirt and basketball shorts with his wedding ring still on, keeps asking the officers, “Can I ask what you’re doing?” He told them he was “just driving.” Officers found hundreds of dollars in $20 bills and two phones in the car. One of the phones lit up with texts to the undercover ad number.
York pleaded no contest the next day to disorderly conduct and possessing criminal tools, both misdemeanors, and paid more than $1,000 in fines. The arrest came three months after he filed for divorce from his wife in May and moved into his parents’ home back in Youngstown.
The league gave York credit for the three games he already missed while it investigated, so he can come back Tuesday, Oct. 20. He is the first 49ers owner the NFL has disciplined since Eddie DeBartolo Jr. was suspended for the 1999 season. York said he accepts the decision in full and apologized to his family, the team, and the fans. The 49ers, by the way, are 3-0 without him.
See also
- Rick Ross Arrested On Felony Strangulation Charge In Miami Beach
- Diddy Is Back In Solitary After NBC Exposed His Alleged VIP Prison Life
Photo: Sportsfile via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0