Loucheiz Purifoy, a former Florida cornerback who is expected to be drafted next month, reportedly was caught with drugs last month and avoided arrest by agreeing to work as a police informant.
Now the matter of how Purifoy avoided arrest is the subject of an investigation. The Gainesville Sun reports that Purifoy never made himself available to officers to serve as an informant, so the Alachua County sheriff, whose officers originally stopped Purifoy, has asked the Gainesville Police Department to conduct an independent investigation into the matter.
According to the report, Purifoy was caught with marijuana and the synthetic drug known as bath salts. Alachua County Sheriff Sadie Darnell wrote in a letter to Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones that after Purifoy failed to act as an informant an arrest warrant issued for him was quashed, and now the matter needs to be investigated.
“Based on probable cause developed by the deputy, an arrest warrant was issued for Loucheiz Purifoy for April 4, 2014, after he failed to fulfill his end of the bargain,” Darnell wrote. “The action to quash the warrant is highly unusual and, as a result, I have numerous questions as to the propriety of how this occurred.”
Purifoy was previously arrested for marijuana possession in February of 2013, and the Gators suspended him for the first game of the season. If he can stay out of trouble off the field, Purifoy has the talent to be a major contributor in the NFL: At Florida he was a starting cornerback, played a little wide receiver and was outstanding on special teams as a returner, on kick coverage and in blocking kicks.